Bloodstained World
by Keeper of the Fallen
Summary: A strange disease hit Los Angeles, bringing the dead to life. Mark Kuzen and other highschool kids find themselves in a great struggle to survive. What exactly is this disease? Where did it come from? Why did it only take a day for the world we know to change to a world where blood will always stain its soil? Rating may change...
1. OC info

_**Name**_: Mark (Anthony) Kuzen

_**Nickname(s)**_: Angel, MAK

_**Gender**_: Male

_**Age**_: 16

_**Personality**_: He's a guy who never really tries in anything but somehow gets the job done. He's quite the silent type around groups, considering he doesn't know how to get into a conversation because of fear of embarrassing himself. When he's with a small group, probably a maximum of 5 people, he almost the exact opposite. In school, he would seem like a loner, keeping to himself and not really engaging with others, but when the moment is right, he'll actually put effort into doing something like protecting the ones he holds close to his heart, making him more like a badass. He even sleeps during some class and, for some reason, gets away with it. Mark is also a musical person. He'd carry around a MP3 with him listening to music that either fit his mood or made him remember someone special. Even though he doesn't look like it, he is physically strong. Though, the abuse he took from his father made him somewhat mentally and emotionally weak. Overall, Mark's just a calm and laid-back guy with a good-heart.

_**History/Bio**_: He's asian mixed, Filipino/Japanese. He was born in California, but spent much of his childhood in Alaska. His parents divorced when he was 7 and he ended up living with his abusive father. After two years of being treated like nothing, Mark ran away from his father. He was caught by the police and was almost taken back to the hell he was suppose to call "home". But he confessed to the officers that had taken him, and even showed them the scars and bruise his father gave him. After this, his father was accused of child abuse and the custody for Mark was given to his mother, who live back in California. In California, Mark's mother had taught him how to defend himself, teaching him karate and kendo. Not so long after he learned kendo, Mark was able to develop his own style that was effective for him. His stepfather was an Filipino also. He was once a veteran in the military. He taught Mark how to use a gun and a tomahawk. Mark was also acquainted with his two sisters, one stepsister and one half-sister. He lived happily with his family and the friends he made in school for the last 9 years. His bonds with his sisters were almost unbreakable, and same went with the friends he had, though he didn't show it. At school, Mark is the leader of the kendo club.

_**Talent(s)**_: Musical, can drive a motorcycle, is great at making camp, somewhat cooks.

_**Hobbies**_: Reading manga, writing poetry, practicing his combat skills, drawing.

_**Love Interests**_: Mark isn't really picky when it comes to girl, but he takes a more liking to shy girls than he does any other. He only has one expectation, the girl must be good and caring at heart.

_**Specialties**_: Can keep calm in almost any situation, good leadership skills, can make up a quick strategy in any situation

_**Strengths**_: Kendo, karate, dual-wielding guns, using a tomahawk, can run two miles under 10 minutes(in other words, he fast), stealth, strategist.

_**Weaknesses**_: If he loses someone he loves he'll be depressed for a LONG time 'til someone knocks some sense into him, tends to get a bit cocky.

_**Family**_

_**Mother**_: Sayori Suzunika

_**Stepfather**_: Angelo Suzunika

_**Sister(s)**_: Miyuki Suzunika(Stepsister), Maple Suzunika(Half-sister

_**Father**_: Ashton Kuzen

_**Appearance**_

_**Hair Color**_: Black

_**Hair Style**_: Neck length hair, long bangs that go to the left

_**Eye Color**_: grayish-blue

_**Skin Color**_: tan

_**Clothing**_: School - white shirt, dark-blue faded jeans, black Jordans, black thin, collared jacket, black backpack.

Attire 1 - Black shirt, black cargo pants, katana sheath strapped over his shoulder, a belt that holds two pistol holsters, military boots, a holster strapped on his right leg that can hold a tomahawk, cross necklace.

Attire 2 - Red shirt, dark-blue jeans, black jacket with white fur around the collar, dog-tag with his sisters' names on one side and his name on the other, bandages wrapped around him hand, belt with two pistol holsters, tomahawk holster strapped around right leg, katana sheath strapped over his shoulder, sunglasses(Sometimes), black Nike's.

_**Weapons**_

Main Weapon: Katana, sniper rifle(On some occasions)

Secondary: Dual M1911, tomahawk

School Weapon: Wooden bokken

* * *

You see this app., right? Don't you have the urge to fill it out? Here's a better question...Why aren't you filling it out?! (Send the app. through a PM, I find it bothersome to have it in the reviews...OC apps get lost easily when they start stacking in the review.)

_**Name**_:

_**Nickname(s)**_:

_**Gender**_:

_**Age**_:

_**Personality**_:

_**History/Bio**_:

_**Talent(s)**_:

_**Hobbies**_:

_**Love Interests**_:

_**Specialties**_:

_**Strengths**_:

_**Weaknesses**_:

_**Family**_

_**Appearance**_

_**Hair Color**_:

_**Hair Style**_:

_**Eye Color**_:

_**Skin Color**_:

_**Body Type**_:

_**Clothing**_:

Attire 1 -

Attire 2(Optional) -

_**Weapons**_

_**Main Weapon**_:

_**Secondary**_:

*_**Others**_*-


	2. Author's Note

Author's Note:

I've have orginazed some of the OC's into two seperate groups. I'll be focusing on them for the first section of the story.

The story will be divided into episodes (SImilar concept to the Walking Dead game), for example, the first episode will focus on the two groups escaping the school and heading to their homes to see if their families are safe. They eventually meet up near the end of this part. Each episode of the story will be made up of about 10-15 chapters.

Other OC's will show up at different episodes of the story, so if yours didn't show up this first episode, then they'll probably make their appearance in the other episodes. Btw, I'm not telling who made first pick, you'll just have to wait for the first chapter.

Deadline's still far away, so OC's will still be taken and examined for potential in the story. I'm kinda looking for older characters or character from other highschools, I find other highschoolers from other schools, like rival schools, will probably add more conflict. Older characters will be kinda will be kinda add to conflict too as some adults seem to think their decisions are right.

I'm going to be working on the first chapter, which will focus the day before the outbreak. Well I'll get working...


	3. E1: The World As We Knew It

_**Well, here it is...The beginning of the end...The first chapter of this story...**_

_**Episode 1: The World As We Knew It**_

"Mark...get...up...now!" Each word was said after a little girl jumped on her older brother's bed. The boy lie still, his black hair all messy from tossing and turning, but he was wide awake just waiting for the right moment to take action. The little girl slowly stopped jumping and put on a kind of pouty face. She got on her knees by her brother's side and started to gently shake him by his shoulder. "Come, Big Brother, get up..." At that moment, the sheet to the bed flew upwards and the boy grabbed the girl as the sheet covered both of them.

"Morning, Maple." Mark said as his little sister looked at him with a surprised expression on her face. Mark only smiled as he rustled her short, maple-brown hair. "You're 8 years old and still so cute." The sheet was pull off by another girl, her hair much longer and a dark tint of brown.

"And for a 16 year old, you're so immature."

"You're just jealous that I don't play with you like this, aren't you Miyuki." Mark got up from his bed, little Maple getting off the bed and heading out of the room yelling to their mother that her brother was up. Miyuki glared at her older brother. "You're only 12, you don't need to act so mature. You're only a kid once, ya know. Just enjoy yourself."

"What kind of advice is that?" Miyuki replied as Mark left the room. Miyuki sighed to herself as she stood alone in her brother's room. "He's right..." Miyuki left the room. Little did she know that Mark was standing near the door listening to the last two words. Mark smiled as his sister walked down the hallway, unaware of him.

Mark Kuzen is the eldest sibling of his 12 year old stepsister and 8 year old halfsister. Mark lives with his mother, Sayori Suzunika, and his stepfather, Angelo Suzunika, in the city of Los Angeles. Mark's biological father, Ashton Kuzen, lives in Alaska, leaving Mark unknown of his father's well-being. Mark has a mixed nationality. He is half Filipino and half Japanese.

Mark took a long hot shower then got dressed for school. He put on a white shirt with a thin black, collared jacket over it and left it unzipped, dark-blue faded jeans and black Jordans. He grabbed his black backpack and said his farewells to his family, who all wished him good luck before he headed out the door. As Mark made his way to school, his phone vibrated in his back-pocket. he answered it to hear his stepfather's voice.

"Oh, Mark, I forgot to tell you to tell Souske to tell his dad that we're coming over for barbecue again tomorrow." Mark's mouth watered at the thought.

"Alright, see ya after school!"

* * *

A 16 year old boy sits on the stairs of Primestone Highschool, waiting for his friend. His wild black and white hair was swaying with the wind. The black part of his hair came up from the back of his neck and leaving the remainder of his hair, like his bangs and most of the frontal view of his hair, was white. He wore a Japanese school uniform that his mother had gotten him. This uniform consisted of an open black blazer with red cuffs and seams which revealed the white dress shirt and loose blue tie he had underneath, and black pants and his black and blue Puma athletic sneakers. His skin was tanned from the almost daily training with his dad. He's also a mix between Russian and Japanese. Russian from his dad's side and Japanese on from his mother's.

This boy's name is Souske Hitori or by what he prefers, Azure. "Azure" was a nickname given to him by his parents for his mako blue eyes.

"Waiting for Mark again?" A female voice asked from behind him. He turned to see Cassie Vargez. Cassie, like Azure and Mark, is 16 years of age. Her dark-brown hair was at mid-back length and it cascaded over her left shoulder. Her bangs were disheveled and brushed to the left. She wore a red V-neck t-shirt with black shorts, she also had black knee socks on and red vans. Around her neck was a neckless with a dog-tag with her name on it and she had a septum piercing. She had peachy skin, which almost made her look orange. She had a curvy figure and C-cupped breasts, which were almost growing into a D-cup. Her nationality is also mixed. She's a mix between an African-American and Mexican.

"Hey, Cass. Yeah, I'm waiting for him. Why you asking?" Azure looked back to the road, seeing if his friend had made his appearance.

"Just 'cause I can," Cass went and stood beside Azure, hands behind her head. "I also , came over because you looked like you needed some company, and besides, my friends aren't here either." Cassie looked toward a group of girls that were glaring at her. "Looks like a few girls can't stand me being near you." Azure took a slight glance from the corner of his eye.

"Ever since last year, I still don't understand why girls pay so much attention to me..." Azure is a popular kid, but since he been home-schooled until his freshman year in highschool, he doesn't really know what that means.

"Well, I guess they don't call a 'clueless pretty boy' for nothing, huh." Cass chuckled as Azure just smirk and looked back at the road ahead. A familiar looking boy came into view, running in the distance. "Looks like Mark finally made it." Azure got to his feet as Mark crossed the road to the school.

"Hey, Angel." Azure greeted Mark. Azure has been calling Mark by "Angel" since they were young, considering the fact that their childhood friends. The nickname was originally made to make fun of Mark for Mark had always told people that he was going to be everyones' guardian angel, but now it just a normal nickname Azure calls him by.

"So you're finally flirting with girls now." Mark said as he looked from Azure to Cassie.

"You've got the wrong idea," Cassie said plainly. "We're just having a friendly conversation. And besides, he's not my type."

"Friendly conversation, my ass! You're like every other girl that goes to this school, you infatuated with Azu-" Mark didn't get to finish his sentence as he was hit in the back of the head. Rubbing the back of his head, Mark turned around to a girl with tri-colored hair. Her blonde hair was tied in a braid with dyed green and red streak, and she had long bang that fall in her face, one side of her bangs was green and the other red. She had light Caucasian skin and dark brown leather colored eyes. It was Delainey Shallow. "Ow, that hurt, Lain..."

"It's what you get for being a loud nuisance." Lain told Mark, sticking her tongue at him. Mark couldn't help but take note of how she always stood out with her clothes...they were all Christmas themed. She had on a red Christmas sweater, she wore jeans which had Christmas tree bedazzled on it and wore bracelets and necklaces that had reindeer charms. "Hey, are you examining my clothes or are you being a perv?"

"Why do you dress like that, Lain?" Mark asked, ignoring the question with his own.

"Isn't it obvious? She loves Christmas." Cass answered for Lain. Lain's eyes seemed to sparkle as she heard the word.

"Just three more months, three more months…" Lain felt a bit of excitement just thinking of the the air filled with falling snowflakes, the ground covered with pure white snow, a snowman on her front yard, Christmas lights hung around the house...

"Um, Lain, you okay?" Azure asked, making Lain snap back to reality.

"Ah, I'm fine, I just dowsed off." Lain replied, scratching the back of her head. Before anything else could be said, the bell rang off, signaling the start of Primestone High.

* * *

"Come on, everyone, get to class!"

A tall 17 year old boy with pale skin and black spiky hair in the classic hero style stood amongst the student body, making sure his fellow students make it to class as he takes it as his job as Student Council President. He wore a black dress shirt, pant and shoes. He also wears a wrist watch. His nationality is a mix between Japanese and American. This boy's name is Rikio Hiroshi.

His dark-purple eye scanned the hallway as one by one, students went to their homeroom. Only a few students were making their way through the hallways. One of the few stood out of the rest. This was the 16 year old Vice-President, Hoshiko Kurayami.

She had fair white skin and blonde hair that she has down to her lower back and long bang on each side of her face, still leaving her eyes visible. Her hair also gave off a sort of gold appearance do to the little shade of orange in her hair. She wore a white dress shirt with a dark-blue blazer over it and a red skirt. She has a curvy figure and c-cup breasts. Like Rikio, she is also a Japanese/American mix.

Hoshiko's maroon colored eyes met the President's. She gave him a smile before greeting him.

"Hi, Rikio, it seems you got the first floor done. The second floor is all clear." Hoshiko informed him.

"Well done, Hoshi. We'll just need to do is check around the school for any skippers for one last time before going to class." Hoshiko nodded and let Rikio lead the way. The two made their way through the first floor without seeing anyone roaming the halls. As they were about to head to the second floor, one of the entrance doors flew open.

A 17 year old boy with short, spiky black hair, came into the school, trying to catch his breath. His slightly tanned skin had a small portion of sweat. This boy was wearing an open black blazer, revealing the white dress shirt and red tie he had underneath, black slacks and combat boots, and he had a blue polorized goggles on his forehead.

"Jesus H Christ in high-rise jeans, I shouldn't have worked so late... wonder if this means I get another detention?" the boy muttered to himself before going into a dash.

"Katsu Tokoroshi! No running in the halls!" Hoshi yelled, making him stop in his tracks. Katsu turned to see Rikio and Hoshiko. He scratched the back of his head and put a huge, goofy smile on his face.

"Yo man, ** the police! Believe it or not, I actually feel like going to class on time today!" Katsu told them.

"That's no reason for you to go running through the halls. You could get yourself or someone else hurt." Rikio replied. "Now, why're you late?"

"Okay, check this out. I was just minding my own business like a baller, when my boss comes to me and tells me I'm running packs all night till 1. So I get done and hit the sack for four hours, wake up and grab me some Mountain Dew, yadda yadda yadda...here I am!" Rikio took out a pencil and a sticky note and began to write something. Katsu took notice of Rikio actions. "Oh man, is that a referral?"

"I'm writing you a pass." Rikio told him, handing the sticky note over. Katsu gave him a look before taking the sticky note.

"Well freakin sweet, can I really use this?" Katsu asked.

"Rikio is well respected by the teachers here, they don't mind if you get a pass from him." Hoshiko explained. "Now, get on to class, but calmly."

Katsu nodded, turned around and sprinted as fast as he could down the hallway, shouting "Adios suckers!" over his shoulder.

"Well, that was nice of you." Hoshi said as Katsu was out of sight.

"He's a hardworking person, but he needs to manage his time better and take things more seriously." Rikio said as they reached the second floor. It didn't take long for to find another misplaced student.

A 17 year old Japanese girl looked out a hallway window, watching what was going outside, which was basically nothing. Her wavy caramel hair went down to her shoulders, choppy and at different lengths do to the fact that she cuts her hair herself. She had fair, toned skin and freckles on the bridge of her nose. Her body was curvy with an hour-glass figure and C-cupped breasts. She wore a old red shirt that was faded, faded blue jeans that had some rips and tears here and there, and worn out black sneaker with dirited white socks.

"Sayaka Okasaki, you need to be in class." Rikio said. Sayaka's gray eyes glanced over to the Student Council President and Vice then back out the window, ignoring the two. "Don't make this difficult."

"Just because you're President doesn't mean you can be ordering me around. I'll head to class, but not now." Sayaka told Rikio, still not looking at either of them in the eye.

"And why is that?" Hoshiko said, crossing her arms.

"Because I'm not in the mood, now leave me alone." Sayaka sounded a bit irritated.

"That's not an ex-" Hoshiko began before being interrupted.

"Damn it, I said leave me alone!" Sayaka yelled suddenly. She was now facing the other two, her eye a bit dark.

"Sayaka, please calm-" Rikio also not able to finish his sentence.

"Don't tell me to calm down, Goodie-two-shoes!" Hoshi was about to defend Rikio, but Sayaka didn't give her the chance. "Not a word! I don't want to hear anything from a obedient son of a-"

"Sayaka Okasaki! Watch that mouth of yours!" A teacher had come out into the hallway to see what all the commotion was all about. "Come with me to the office right now, we'll have another discussion about your behavior with the principal." Sayaka cursed under her breath as the teacher and her went down to the first floor, leaving Rikio and Hoshiko alone.

"That girl...she something..." Was all Rikio could manage to say.

'_Now I remember why the student body calls her a Jerk_...' Hoshi thought.

* * *

"Hey, Angel, get up! Class is over!"

Mark could hear the voice of his friend, Azure, over the music he was listening to through earbuds. Mark proceeded to get up from his somewhat uncomfortable sitting position and removed one of his earbuds. He then scanned the classroom, which was about empty except for the teacher, Azure, Lain and himself.

"Can't you make it less obvious that I was sleeping..." Mark muttered. Azure only smiled and looked at the clock.

"It's lunch now, huh..." Azure reverted his attention back to Mark and Lain. Lain had a curious look on her face and walked over to Mark's side and put in the earbud he wasn't using.

"Sum 41?" She said as Still Waiting by Sum 41 began to play. "The song's so old."

"It may be old, but it's one of the songs that brings a little nostalgia to me." Mark pulled out his MP3 player and scrolled across his list of songs. "But the song's not fitting with my mood...Ah, here." Sleepless, a Dubstep song, began to play, somewhat relaxing Mark.

"You have a variety of songs in that thing." Lain said as she took out the earbud. "Last time you were listening Temporary Insanity, then it was an Eminem song, then a BVB(Black Veil Brides) song. What else do you have in there?" Mark smirked and got up from his seat, heading towards the door. The other two followed.

"The songs I put in my MP3 either were put in there to fit my many moods or to remind me of a person or people." Mark explained as he got closer to the door. As he got a bit closer, he felt like he had snapped a thin piece pf string, and as he noticed it, a tennis ball was flung from across the room and hit him directly in the face, making Azure chuckle and Lain laugh. "Gah! Damn it! Lain!"

"Haha, that's another point for Delainey Shallow!" Lain said as her phone gave off a Christmas jingle. She brought out it out an checked the message she received. "Cass is telling me to meet up with her on the second floor. You two want to come?"

"No, that's okay, we're going to be going outside, you know, to get some fresh air," Azure told her. Mark hid his surprised expression as he listened to Azure.

'_He's gotten better with talking with girls_...' Mark thought. '_But maybe it's just because he's been friends with Lain since last year_...' The thought of Azure's interaction with girls last year made Mark want to laugh.

Azure, being home-schooled, is not really good at interacting with the opposite sex. Many girl are absolutely infatuated with Azure, but with he's lack of experience, he becomes very clumsy and has almost no idea of how to react to any of the girls' advances. He even had a bit of trouble when he was getting to know Lain and Cass, who are the only friends he has that are girls, not counting Mark's sisters.

As Mark was thinking of how impressed he was with Azure's improvement, he failed to notice the jump-rope that was tied up to a near by desk and table. He tripped over it and faceplanted into the hallway, where many of his fellow students witnessed it.

"Got you again!" Lain said as Mark shot a glance over at her. She sticked out her tongue at him and gave him a little wink before running into the crowd. Mark sighed as he got to his feet.

"You okay, Angel?" Azure asked, holding back a laugh.

"I'm fine." Mark answered, wiping of some dirt. "Let's get outside before I get the urge to hunt that girl down." The two got out of school, the warm sun shining down on them. Mark sighed in relaxation as they stroll across the street. "Let's go look at the view of the city." Primestone High is located on a large hill, so, from a certain spot near the school, you can see a magnificent view of the city of Los Angeles.

"There's the spot." Azure pointed over to a bench that faced the city. The bench was near the steep part of the hill, so the school put up a railing to make sure no one would get hurt. As they walked over, a question popped in Mark's mind.

"Are you and your dad doing okay? I mean, after last night." Mark asked Azure. Azure thought before answering.

"I'm still not sure..." Azure answered.

Azure's father, Dimitri Dragovitch, is an ex-Spetsnaz. Ever since Azure was young, he had to train hard in hand-to-hand combat and learning how to accurately use a gun. Each training session was harder than the last for Dimitri want to make the perfect legacy out of Azure, but last night, Azure finally got sick of it all and went against his training saying, "What's the point of all this useless training? Its not like the worlds gonna end tomorrow". He then stormed out of the house, coincidently running into Mark, who was out for a night stroll.

Azure brought out his MP3 player and put in one of the earbuds.

"I see you had yours as well, huh." Mark smirked as they reach the bench.

But what they saw wasn't what they had expected...It wasn't what anyone would expect...

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**a/n: Well, that the first chapter of Episode 1. I changed this chapter from being a day before the outbreak to the day of the outbreak because I realized that if I made it a day before, I'd have the characters wearing the same clothes in two consecutive days.**_

_**Well, most of the introductions are over and Z-day is about to begin. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review.**_

_***Slouches back in chair* Man, that took awhile to write...**_


	4. E1: The Outbreak

_**Episode 1: The Outbreak**_

After Mark had fallen for the second trap she set up, Lain dashed through the hallway and up to the second floor, where Cassie was waiting for. Cassie was by her locker, looking for something in her bag. Lain went into a walk as she got closer to Cass.

"Hey, Cassie." Lain said as Cassie looked at her. "What ya looking for?"

"My car keys, we're going out for lunch." Cassie answered simply.

"Oh, we're not going to stay in the school too, huh." Lain said as Cassie pulled out her keys. "We bringing anyone?"

"No, the girls said they'd be busy. So, I'm guessing Mark and Azure aren't coming, right?"

"They had the same idea of going outside for lunch. They're probably at that one bench, looking at the city while listening to music." Lain assumed. "I wonder how they can just sit there staring off, I would be so bored."

"They're boys, what would you expect?" The two chuckled a bit. "So, it's just going to be the two of us, huh. This wouldn't be a first." Cass and Lain walked over to a nearby window and saw the front of the school. There was a red truck there, and a tall man with black hair jumped out of the car, his white shirt under his black hoodie jacket had some stains of red on it. "Who the hell is that?"

"I don't know, but I'm more interested in the fellow over there." Lain pointed to what looked like a really pale male limping over to the black haired man. The man turned around and threw a punch at the grayish one, who staggered backwards, but continued to limp forward and lung at the man. Both fell to the ground. "Looks like a fight." Lain said as two teachers and the Student Council President ran outside and headed for the two that were fighting. "Aw, they're going to stop it...just when I was getting into it..."

"Alright, let's get going." Cassie said.

"Wait!" Lain yelled. "I forgot something in my Drama class. Can we please head to the theater?" Lain played puppy-eyes on Cassie, who just sighed.

"Fine, but make it quick. Lunch isn't forever, you know." Cass replied as a brigth smile grew on Lain's face.

"Yay!"

* * *

Rikio came rushing outside with two teachers following behind him. Ahead of him were two older looking male who seemed to be fighting. One of them, who was pinning the other down, was a sickly pale, which made Rikio wonder about the person's health, but scratched out the thought and set his mind back on stopping this little display.

"Hey! That's enough you two!" Rikio yelled, attempting to pull the pale man off the other, but the man wouldn't lighten his grip on the other.

"Hit him on the head!" The man on the bottom yelled, struggling to keep the man on top of him away. Rikio ignored the black haired man and kept trying to pull of the man on top. "What the hell are you waiting for? This Thing is going to kill me!"

'Thing?' Rikio thought as he heard the chomping together of the pale man's jaw. Looking closer, Rikio could see that there were patches of flesh missing on the man's face. "What the-" was all Rikio said before a shoe met with the "man's" face. Rikio looked up to see Hoshiko. "Hoshi, what're you doing here?"

"Somethings wrong here." Hoshiko said, looking at the Thing she just kicked. Its had many missing patches of flesh and its eyes were milky-white. "This person isn't alive..." Hoshi looked at the black haired man. "Who are you?"

The tan Japanese boy stood on his feet, wiping dirt off his black jacket and blue jeans. He had black spiky hair and pure black eyes. From the outline of his chest and stomach on his white shirt, they could tell that he was a muscular and fit person.

"My name's Satoshi Minegishi, 19 years old. I'm here to get my sisters, Hikari and Sakura." Satoshi informed the four others.

"Do you know what that...Thing is?" a teacher asked. Satoshi stared at his attacker.

"Like she said, it's not alive, but it's still moving...Almost like a zombie." Satoshi said. Just at that moment, the Thing made a quick movement from the ground and bit in one of the teacher's ankle. The teacher screamed in pain as it ripped a chunk of flesh and meat from the teacher. "Damn!" Satoshi drew out his pocket knife and stabbed it in the head. The teacher fell back, bleeding badly at his ankle.

The other teacher went over to support the injuried one. The other three stared at the monsterousity in front of them as it lie still.

"Where did it come from?" Rikio asked suddenly, his dark-purple eyes on Satoshi.

"I'm not sure, 'They' just showed up suddenly in the city." Hearing this made Hoshiko and Rikio's eyes widen.

"You're saying that's there's more of Them?!" Hoshiko yelled. Satoshi nodded. "No way..." was all she could manage to say.

"That's enough. We need to get this man to the nurse. "RIkio said, looking at the teacher's wound. "I'll report this to the office. We''ll have the school evacuate immediatly."

"It's too late..." Satoshi said.

"What?" Rikio said.

"It's too late for him." Satoshi said, looking at the injuried teacher, scaring him a bit.

"What do you mean it's too late?!" The teacher said, fear in his voice.

"I've seen what happens when you've been bit. Once you're bit, you're infected. You slowly die and then you turn into one of Them." Satoshi looked away. "I...I'm sorry that I had to tell you the bad news..."

"I don't want to become one of 'Them'!" The teacher yelled at Satoshi. Satoshi thought for a moment before sighing and bringing out the blade of his pocket knife. "What're you doing?"

"You don't want to become one of Them, right?" Satoshi said in a sad voice. The teacher repeated a series of No's as Satoshi came closer.

"There has to be some other way!" The other teacher said, getting in the way of Satoshi.

"He's right, you there must be a way to cure." Hoshi said.

"I tried already..." Satoshi said. Everyone looked at him silently. "My father, he was bit. I brought him to a hospital, and they couldn't do anything. They said that they had patients with the same sickness and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with any of them. That's when the infected patients began to attack the doctors. That's what brought me here."

"This can't be..." A tear fell from the infected teacher's eye. "So, it's all over for me..." His watery eyes looked at Satoshi. "Satoshi, right? Can you please hand that knife over to my friend here." Satoshi nodded and handed the knife to the other teacher, who reluctantly took it. "Could we have a moment, kids?"

"Come on you two." Rikio said, walking pass Hoshiko and Satoshi.

The teachers had a conversation with each other. Satoshi, Hoshiko and Rikio tried not to listen as the infected teacher told his friend his finally wishes. There was a moment of silents that was ended by the sound of the male teacher weeping. Rikio looked at the teacher who was holding his dead friend in his arms. The knife was impaled into the dead teacher's head. Rikio walked over to the crying teacher and offered him a hand. The teacher wiped his eyes and took Rikio's hand.

"Come on, let's go report to the office." Rikio looked over at Satoshi and Hoshiko. "Satoshi, you should come with us too. We need you to tell them about what's going on." Just then, two boy came running passed them, one with neck-long black hair and the other with wild black and white hair.

"You guys should leave!" The black haired boy yelled back at the four. "They're closing in on the school!"

* * *

In the detention room was Sayaka. After her little scene with the Student Coucil President and Vice, the office had given lunch detention. Sayaka didn't really mind. No one in the school saw her as a friend, so no one was wanting to hang out with her. About the whole student body labeled her as "Jerk", and the teachers only saw her as a trouble maker. The detention room kept her away from them and left her to herself.

"Sayaka, do you have any work you can do?" Asked the teacher who was supervising her and another student. Her voice showed that she didn't really love her job.

"No." Sayaka said with attitude as she she rereading a volume of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. She sighed as she turned the page. '_Though this is a nice place to be in, it's so boring_.' From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something move from out the window. She looked over and saw a tall teenage boy with a somewhat short teenage girl. They seemed to be making out. '_Get a room_.'

Sayaka brushed her caramel brown hair to the side and returned to her book. After minutes of turning page after page, the intercom turned on and the principal's voice.

"This is an emergency evactuation! I repeat, this is an emergency evactuation! Everyone please remain calm and evactuate the building!" There was a loud sound of glass breaking and moans. "Oh no, they're getting in! Someone! He-" The intercom stopped and the school remained silent for about five seconds before you could hear students screaming and yelling through the hallways.

"What the hell is going on?" The male student asked, looking like he just woke up from a nap. He scanned the room, but when he looked over at the window, he screamed. "What the fuck is that?!"

Sayaka looked at the window she just looked through a saw a gruesome looking face. What she thought was a teenage boy was something else...something dead. The Thing had milky-white eyes and fresh blood was around its mouth. Sayaka looked over to where she last saw it. There lie the girl, face half gone, not a single sign of life.

"Come on you two!" the teacher yelled at the boy and Sayaka. At that moment, the "Thing" began to bash at the window, which began to crack after each hit. The teacher walked over and grabbed both the boy and Sayaka. "I said-" The window shattered at the corpse came in a took a bite out of the teacher's shoulder. Sayaka and the boy stared in shock as the Thing and their supervisor fell to the ground, the teacher screaming in pain as the Thing took another bite out of her.

"Screw this! I'm out!" The boy yelled, dashing out of the room.

Sayaka scanned the room for a weapon. She saw a loose pole near the the door. She quickly made her way to the metal pole and attempted to pull it out.

"Come on! Break already!" She yelled in frustration as the pole snapped from ceiling. Sayaka looked at her weapon and noticed that one end had a sharp tip. Sayaka shrugged her shoulder before running back to the teacher, who has been silent during the moment Sayaka went for her weapon, and stabbed the corpse in the head. The corpse's body made a dull thud as its body fell beside the teacher. "Damn..." Sayaka was now staring at her dead supervisor. Sayaka sigheded before running out of the room and into someone else. "Hey, watch it!"

A boy with wild black and white hair stood in front of her, and next to him was a boy with neck-long black hair. Sayaka knew both of them for she had one class with both of them. It was Mark Kuzen and Souske Hitori, though Souske rathered Azure over his real name.

"Ah, sorry. We're in a hur-" Azure eyes flashed behind Sayaka. "Duck!" Sayaka ducked as Azure pulled out a ninjato with a blue blade and blue and black hilt, and impaled one of Them in the face. The corpse dropped and Azure pulled out his ninjato and looked into the room to see more of Them coming through the window of the detention room. Azure grabbed Sayaka by reaction. "Come on, we can't stay here."

"Hey, let go of me!"

* * *

_**Moments ago...**_

"What the hell?!"

Mark and Azure were staring at what was suppose to be the city of Los Angeles. There were smoke clouds rising from the buildings and streets. Mark leaned on the railing in disbelief.

"Am I really awake right now?" Mark said out loud. He turned around to Azure to see a disturbing looking being behind him. "Azure, behind you!" Azure reaction was slow. The corpse-like thing had wrapped its arms around Azure and brought him to the ground. The Thing went to bite Azure, but Mark quickly heel dropped it in the face.

"Dude, did you just-" Azure said, quickly getting up before the blood could ruin his uniform.

"No, it was already dead. I mean look at it." The corpse was supposeably a female. Its skin was sickly pale and its only eye was milky-white. It clothes looked like those of business, but it was torn in some spots. Mark scanned the area and saw another one. "Azure, over there."

"I got this one." Azure threw down his bag and ran up to the walking corpse, aiming a hard kick to its chest. Half his leg went through the body, making Azure a bit surprised. "Damn! I'm losing balance!" He fell backwards and the Thing's body slowly slide down his leg, chomping its teeth together as it came closer to Azure. Azure threw a small barrage of punches at its face, but hitting it lick that didn't seem to be effective, including in the postion he was in. "Mark! What the hell are you doing?" Azure glanced over to his childhood friend.

"I thought you said you could handle it." Mark said, sitting down on the bench, watching Azure's little struggle.

"This is no time for jokes!" Azure said, trying to push the corpse up his leg. "Damn it! Throw me my bag!"

"Hold on, I need to make sure Lain and Cass are okay." Mark said, texting Lain on his phone.

"MARK!"

"Okay, okay." Mark said, chuckling a bit while throwing the bag to his friend. Azure drew out two ninjatos with blue blades and blue and black hilts.

"Die!" Azure impaled the corpse's head on both sides. Its body now seemed more lifeless than it already was. Azure pulled his leg through the body while Mark came over with a smirk. "What...the hell..." Azure said through breathes.

"Hey, you said you got it, didn't ya? But with all seriousness, we need to get a move on." Mark saw more moving corpses moving in their direction. "I say we call them, Them."

"Them? Why Them?" Azure asked.

"Because their not as cool as zombies and shouldn't be called as such, so I decided on Them." Azure shrugged his shoulders while cleaning off his ninjatos before putting them back in their sheaths in his bag. "Now let's go." The two ran off in the direction of the school.

"Why we heading back?" Azure asked.

"Lain and Cass, they're still in there." Mark said, a glimspe of concern flashed on his face, but it went away as fast as it came.

The two neared the school, noticing six bodies up ahead. Three were standing a few feet away from the a man who was holding another man, who had a knife between his eyes, and one of Them lay still by a red truck. Azure and Mark ran pass them as one of the teens, the Student Coucil President, walked up and offered the man a hand. The teens and man noticed Azure and Mark run up the stair to the entrance. Mark turned to the four, running backwards up the stairs.

"You guys should leave! They're closing in on the school!" Mark yelled as he entered the school. Azure was a bit ahead of him as they ran through the empty hallway. Azure and Mark stopped running as soon as they thought they could rest a little. "We need to head to the club room. I need my bokken."

"What about Cassie and Lain?"

"None of Them have reached the school ju-" The sound of the intercom screeching reached their ears.

"This is an emergency evactuation! I repeat, this is an emergency evactuation! Everyone please remain calm and evactuate the building!" There was a loud sound of glass breaking and moans. "Oh no, they're getting in! Someone! He-" The intercom stopped and it didn't take long for the school to go into havoc. Teens began rushing through the hallway, pushing and trampling others. Mark and Azure stood to the side, letting people pass by them. As soon as it seemed clear to move, the two moved on, only for Azure to run into a girl wearing a red shirt and faded blue jeans with a few rips and tears..

"Ah, sorry. We're in a hur-" Azure saw one of Them behind the caramel-brown haired girl. "Duck!" The girl ducked as Azure drew out one of his ninjatos and stabbed the corpse in the head. The corpse fell to the ground as Azure pulled out his ninjato, quickly cleaning off the blood with a cloth before putting it back in his bag. He then noticed Them crawling through the broken window. Out of response, he grabbed the girl by her arm and half dragged her into a run. Mark couldn't help but chuckle a bit before running.

"Hey, let go of me!" The girl yelled as we ran through the bloodied hallway. The three finally made it to an empty hallway that seemed to be untouched by the chaos going around the school. Azure let go of the girl's arm. "God, you finally listen. When I say let go, you best let go."

"Sorry..." Azure said. '_How about a 'thank you' next time_."

"My name's Mark Kuzen, and this here is-"

"Souske Hitori, he prefer Azure. Yeah, I already know, I have a class with you two." The girl said a bit irritatedly. "If you don't remember, I'm Sayaka Okasaki." Mark and Azure showed an expression that they remembered.

"I see, you're the 'Jerk' of the school." Mark said, adding quotations with his fingers to the word "Jerk". "You're kinda like Azure here, you two have a nickname that fits some of your personality, right Clueless Pretty Boy." Mark sighed after a little chuckle. His eyes now on the pole that Sayaka was holding. "Can I asked you if you can join us, Sayaka?"

"What makes you think I want to help you? If you're think that I'm some kind of demsel in distress, you're wrong." Sayaka said with seriousness.

"No, I was thinking the opposite. You seem you can handle yourself well. I thought it might be great to have you on the team while we rescue some real demsels...or demsel, the other one I know can handle herself too...and then get out of this place." Mark explained. Sayaka thought about the offer for a moment.

'_I guess three is better than one_.' Sayaka thought. "Fine, but only this time, after we get out of here, we split, got it?"

"Got it."

* * *

Running out of the theater, two girls ran for their life, one of them armed with a walking stick, originally a stage prop for a Christmas play, the other trying not to get hit.

"Lain, stop swing that thing so recklessly!" Cassie yelled as Lain knocked over a few of Them. "And for god sake, open your eyes!"

"Sorry! I don't want to get their blood in my eyes. You know what happens when their blood gets in your eye, right? You get infected!" Lain said, turning to a set of stairs.

"You play too much video games!" Cassie said as a few more of Them showed up. "Damn it! Get out of our way!" Cassie kicked the thin metal rail as hard as she could and manage to get it loose enough to pull out. She used the metal pipe to help Lain make a path to the first floor. "There's a classroom right there."

The girls ran into to the classroom to figure out that they weren't alone. There was one of Them attempting to lung at a black haired boy who had a wooden bat in hand. The boy was wearing a black blazer and white dress shirt with a red tie, black slacks and blue goggles. He even wore a smile of enjoyment on his face.

"Alright, let's get this ballgame started!" The boy said as the zombie lunged at him once more, but he easily dodged. "Going up to bat for the home team is Katsu Tokoroshi!" The boy named Katsu, as he introduced himself, jumped back and took a batting stance. The zombie lunged once more to add a little bit speed to its approach. "Here comes the fast ball! And BAM!" Katsu hit the zombie right across the face, knocking its head off and sending it into a bloody mess into the wall. "And that's a homerun!"

Lain couldn't help but clap loudly, which caught Katsu's attention, who bowed down in response and walked over to the two girls.

"Name's Katsu, best zombie killer of the west." Katsu said, twirling his bat in his right hand.

"I'm Cassie"

"And Lain!"

"Nice to meet ya, Peachy and Cupid." Katsu said with a grin.

_**(A/N: "Peachy" refers to Cassie's peach colored skin, and "Cupid" refers to one of the Santa's reindeer)**_

'We just introduced ourselves and he's already giving us nicknames.' Cassie sighed. "It looks like we can't escape out the window." Cassie looked out the window to see multiple of Them wandering aimlessly outside. "I was hoping we'd be able to make an easy escape out of this school..." There was a popping sound of a soda can being opened.

"Busting a few heads won't hurt." Katsu said, slurping up some Moutain Dew.

"We should try to avoid as much encounters with Them as possible. Fighting them would just waste time and it might attract more of Them." Cassie thought for a moment. "If we're going to escape, we need a place to go to."

"You're car!" Lain said. "We should head to your car and try to make it back to our families."

"I guess we can risk going to the parking lot. But need to get there fast." Cassie said.

"I got a map of the school, gots all the fast routes to the lot." Lain said with a big smile on her face.

"Nice going, Cupid, you seem really prepared." Katsu gave Lain a thumbs up.

"Well let's get going then. Can I have that map, Lain?" Lain nodded and pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to Cass. Cass looked over the map quickly. "Alright, let's leave." The three walked over to the door, Katsu throwing his soda can in a garbage bin on the other side of the room.

As soon as they opened the door, a girl with black hair with a tint of purple on her bangs and tips of her hair was standing there to meet them. Her hair went down to her should, pinned straight but it spiked up in random place and her bangs covered her whole right side of her face. She wore a black and white stripped shirt with black long sleeve with wrist band s on her wrist, she was also wearing black cargo pant with a chain on her silver studded belt, completed with black worn out converse. She had very pale skin. Her body is a bit petite yet is still slender and curvy, has C-cupped breast, a long torso and flat stomach with a small waist and medium in length shapely legs.

"Alex?" Cassie said as the girl's smokey grey/blue eyes.

"Cassie, you're alive!" Alex said with a surprised expression.

"Alexandra! Lain yelled as she saw her friend.

"Hey, didn't I tell you to not call me by my full name." Alex said with an attitude.

"Maybe." Lain said in a playful voice

"Hey, Grey." Katsu said, refering to Alex's greyish blue eyes. "Name's Katsu Tokoroshi."

"Nice to meet you, Katsu." Said Alex.

"Um, can we leave the chit-chat for later, we have to get to the parking lot." Cassie said.

"Why?" Alex couldn't help but asked.

"I'll explain along the way." Cassie scanned the hallway then looked at the map Lain had given her. "Damn, there's more of them blocking the quickest shortcut to the parking lot. I'll have to-" Cass was interrupted by Katsu.

"Yo, lamebrains, didn't you hear! It's lunchtime!"

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**A/N: Well that was fun to write. Let's review our small groups real quick before they finally get into two individual groups.**_

_**Small Group 1 (SG1): Mark Kuzen, Azure/Souske Hitori, Sayaka Okasaki**_

_**SG2: Alexandra Grey, Cassie Vargez, Katsu Tokoroshi, Delainey Shallow**_

_**SG3: Rikio Hiroshi, Hoshiko Kurayami, Satoshi Minegishi**_

_**For Those of you who I said I accepted but didn't make your OC appear, be patient with me, I don't want to have everyone showing up at the same time. Please review of what you think or how I can do better. Oh, and don't forget, it's almost deadline time. I still need some annoying adult for one of my future conflicts of the story.**_

_**Well, that's all. Gonna get working on my other fics and hopeful have a new chapter up by next week.**_


	5. E1: Being Torn Apart

_**Episode 1: Being Torn Apart**_

As a large group of student rushed out of the Primestone High, Satoshi, Hoshiko, Rikio and a male teacher stood by, watching as almost the whole student body passed them. The four were still in a little shock as they had listened to the principle of the school plead for help through the intercom.

"It's hit the school..." Rikio said to himself as the male teacher pulled the knife out of his dead friend's head. "What're you doing? Do you plan in going in there?"

"Those things took my best friend, I will not allow them to take the lives of my students." The male teacher told Rikio. "I highly suggest that you three leave." A small chuckle came from Rikio.

"As Student Council President, I will also make sure that my fellow students make it out of here." Rikio said, taking the teacher's side.

"Stop stealing the spotlight, Rikio! You aren't going alone!" Hoshi said, walking over to Rikio's side. The three looked over at Satoshi.

Though he hasn't really shown it, Satoshi is rather shy with strangers. Though, for some reason, he felt different with these three. He felt that they were good people and felt like he could trust him.

"I'll help too, I have to find my sisters anyways, and I think we'll be better in a group than alone." Satoshi said with confidence, which was quite unusual for him. "Just give me one moment..." Satoshi ran over and leaped into the trunk of his truck, opening a black box that was strapped down to the truck. He pulled out a M16 and three clips of ammunition, excluding the one in the gun. He put two of the clips in his back-pocket and strapped the third one around the clip already in the gun. As he jumped down from his truck, he notice the stares of his new friends. "It's my dad's, he was going to show it off to his friends today, but...you know."

The male teacher looked from Rikio to Hoshiko to Satoshi, and he couldn't help but smile.

"I believe I haven't introduce myself to any of you. My name is Ethan Scott, but I'd prefer if you called me Scott." Scott informed the three, looking at the pocket knife in his hand.

"So we have two armed people, huh." Hoshiko said. "Well, I guess it could work, I mean there are many things in the school Rikio and I can use as weapons."

"I won't be needing any weapon for now, my marital arts skills are good enough." Rikio said, making Scott and Satoshi give him a concerned look.

"No need to worry about him, his martial arts skills are outstanding, he even managed to beat Mark Kuzen, the Marital Arts and Kendo club captain." Hoshi said. Rikio somewhat smirk at his achievement. "But that's enough talk, there are student waiting for us inside."

The other three nodded and they all went inside the school that now was infested with the dead. The hallway was a bloody mess. Some student were trampled to death and lie lifelessly on the ground, but there were others that were walking about, lifeless as the ones on the ground, and they were also flesh-hungry. Before anyone could say anything, Rikio signaled them to stay silent. They made their way silently through the hall, staying out of the deads' vision. Hoshi made her way in front of , who was leading the small group. As she was about to pass the detention, one of Them came out.

"A-" Hoshi was about to scream until Rikio covered her mouth. The dead detention supervisor glanced over in their direction. She slowly limped over. "Rikio, she's coming over..." Hoshiko whispered.

"Just be quiet. I'm experimenting something..." Rikio whispered back. He looked back at Satoshi and Scott, both nodded to stay quiet. Rikio reverted his attention back to the dead that was now closing in on them. It was now about inches away from the group, each of the four's heart began to race. The Thing slowly limped pass the group and they silently made their way forward. Once they were out of hearing distance of any of the dead, Satoshi spoke.

"What was that all about?" Satoshi asked.

"Apparently, those Things are blind." Scott said. "When did you notice, Rikio?"

"While we were making our way through the hall, I noticed that those Things didn't even chase after us even though some of Them were looking at us. So I came to conclude that They may be almost completely blind." Rikio informed everyone. "What makes up for lack of Their sight may be Their hearing and Their strength."

"You sure are a smart one." Satoshi complimented. "So being silent is the key to avoid any fights with Them, huh..." Satoshi looked at his assault rifle. "Well then, I'll try to minimize the use of this as much as possible, who knows how much it'll attract."

In the distance, they heard a girl scream, which was followed up by a door crashing open.

* * *

A 16 year old girl with fair skin and black hair that had red streaks on the left side. Her hair went down to her shoulders, though the right side of her hair was shorter than her left. she was about 5'6, lean and fit with A-cupped breasts. She wore a black tank top under a red shirt with a black hoodie over it, blue jeans and black sneakers. Her nationality was a mix between Chinese and Laos. Her name is Shao Phan.

"Come on, Ana, we're almost there." Shao said to a 17 year old girl with long wavy ink black hair that reached to her mid-back. Her hair was also put into one long braid. She had creamy white skin and rosy cheeks. She has a hourglass figure, slightly muscular from playing sports, and C-cupped breast, which were close to D's. She wore a long-sleeved off-white shirt that's a bit skin tight, black dress pants that cover down to her shin since she wore them in middle school, and sneakers that were black so they looked somewhat formal. Her nationality is German-American. This girl's name is Liana Josephine Richards.

"Keep it down, Shao, there could be more of Them nearby." Liana said, scanning the hallway for any of the walking dead. "Let's hurry while the halls still clear." The girls made their way through the hall looking at each label on the doors of each room until finally they stopped in front of door that was labeled, Marital Arts/Kendo Club. "I guess we're here. There should be a weapon or two in here."

The two entered the room. It was dark, considering that the shades to the window were closed. Shao closed the door to make sure none of Them came in. Shao then began to search for the light switch, as she did, a hand found it's way to her shoulder, somewhat making her jump.

"Ana, don't sneak up on me!" Shao said.

"What're you-" Liana started as Shao turned on the lights. Shao screamed as one of Them tried to take a bite out of her. Liana turned around, noticing that there were more of Them as she did, and went to try to help Shao, but the door busted open and three figures came in.

The boy with black hair went and grabbed the dead corpse by its head and threw it onto the ground, free Shao from its grip. The other two, a boy with wild black and white hair and a girl with caramel-brown hair, rushed pass Liana and took out the rest of Them with their weapons, the boy was armed with two ninjatos and the girl had a pole with one sharp tip at the end. The boy with black hair finished off his opponent with a hard heel drop to the head, bloodying the black Jordon's he was wearing. The boy then sighed and glance from Shao to Liana.

"Well, that was a close call. You two got real lucky that we were heading here too." The black haired boy said, closing the door to the room. "By the way, I'm Mark Kuzen. The boy in the Japanese uniform is my friend, Azure." Azure gave the two girls a small wave. "And the female of our little rescue team is Sayaka Okasaki." Sayaka just shrugged as she was introduced.

"So you're the Captain of the Marital Arts and Kendo club, huh." Liana said, moving strands of hair to the side. "I'm Liana Josephine Richards and my shocked friend there is Shao Phan. Thank you for saving us."

"You're name sure is a mouth full." Sayaka commented, a hint of attitude in her voice.

"Don't mind her, she's just like that." Mark said with a small smile. "But she does have a point, do you have-"

"Ana is fine with her." Shao said suddenly.

"Ana...well I guess that'll do." Mark walked over to one side of the room and broke a glass case that held two bokken, or in other terms, wooden swords. Mark pulled both out and went over to one of the dead corpses. "Ah, the janitor. Perfect." Mark turned over the corpse and pulled out the nail gun from its belt. "Shao, right? Use this." Mark handed Shao one of the bokkens he was holding. "And for you." Mark hands over the nail gun to Liana.

"Um, if I may ask, do you guys mind joining us in our little rescue mission?" Azure asked.

"Rescue? Are there certain people you're looking for?" Shao said.

"They're looking for two girls, Delainey Shallows and Cassie Vargez." Sayaka informed Shao and Liana.

"Did one of them have hair with three different colors?" Shao asked.

"If her hair was blonde with a mix of green and red, then yes." Mark said, trying to think of any other girl with tri-colored hair.

"Yeah, we saw them a few minutes ago fighting off a horde of them near the music room. They weren't alone either. There were three girls, counting your two friends, and a boy." Liana told Mark.

"That boy must be real happy right now." Mark joked as he played with his wooden sword. "So do you want to help us or not?" Mark said politely. Shao and Liana looked at each other for a moment, then nodded.

"We'll help you guys since you helped us." Answered both of them at the same time.

"Well then-" Azure was interrupted by the door opening as four other people joined the room. "Ah, more company."

Mark, Azure, Sayaka, Liana and Shao both recognized the Student Council President, Rikio, and Vice, Hoshiko. But the five wondered who the other two were.

"Hello, President." Mark said in a somewhat serious tone, his eye showing little emotion. "I see you've brought some survivors."

"I could say the same for yourself." Rikio said. "We heard someone scream and we came as fast as we could. I guess you handled everything." Rikio said, looking at the dead corpses on the ground. He then looked at the survivors with Mark. "I see you have an interesting group here. Sayaka Okasaki, Souske Hitori, Shao Phan and Liana Josephine Richards."

"It seems like we don't need the introduction." Azure said, a similar seriousness in his voice to Mark's.

'_It looks like Mark and Azure aren't real buds with the President_.' Sayaka thought, knowing exactly what they felt for she isn't fond of Rikio herself. "Do you four plan on rescuing survivors?"

"That's the plan for right now." Hoshiko answered. One of the survivors on Rikio side cleared his throat.

"I don't think I've really introduce myself to you five, I'm Scott." looked over at the silent, seemingly shy black haired fellow.

"And I'm Satoshi Minegishi..." He somewhat mumbled, adjusting the grip on his gun as the other five took notice of it.

'A M16...' Azure thought. "What do you guys want with us? We can handle ourselves."

"I was thinking a little alliance would put us in a better position." Rikio said.

"What makes you think that we-" Mark signaled for Azure to stop.

"Fine." Mark answered simply. "But if we're going to work together than I need to say one thing. Since your little goal here is to rescue survivors than we should head to the music room. I've been informed that there are uninfected survivors there."

"Good to know."

* * *

"This should be all of them." Cassie said as she took out the last of Them in the music room.

"That was kinda exhausting..." Alex said as she sat down, setting a bloodied guitar down. She began to gentle touch the snake bits on her bottom lip as Lain and Katsu found themselves a chair to sit on. "Though I love the music room, what're we doing here? I thought we were heading to the parking lot."

"We are, we just need to take a break." Cassie said, somewhat sighing at the thought of what had happened earlier.

After Katsu little yelling incident, the group had to fight off about sixteen of Them in the hall. As they were making their way to the parking lot, Lain's phone gave off it Christmas jingle as she received a message. The jingle attracted nearby corpses. They got lucky when the sound of a girl screaming and a door being crashed opened attract most of Them. The group went to a the nearby music room and took out the walking corpses inside.

Lain pulled out her phone to check what the message she said. She wasn't really surprised as she saw the sender.

"Mark and Azure are looking for us, Cassie." Lain said, replying back to Mark. "Mark's such a worry-bug..."

"It's kinda expected of him." Cassie said. '_Geez, the guy puts on a laid back face, but he always worried about others.' _Cassie thought as two consecutive messages reached Lain's phone. "We should get going now. These things are filling up the school, so we need to move fast before the parking lot becomes inaccessible."

"Finally, I was getting so bored!" Katsu said, leaping from his chair.

"Not so fast, your recklessness almost killed us. We don't need you pulling a stunt like that again, got it?" Alex said

"You, madam, are no fun at all." Katsu said.

"This is no time for fun right now. Try to at least take this seriously." Cassie told Katsu.

"What do you say, Cupid? Want to have some fun bashing in some head?" Katsu asked Lain, completely ignoring Cass.

"Hmmm, maybe. Depends on what you have in mind." Lain said as Cassie got between the two.

"That's enough you two. We need to get going." Cass said. "Lain, tell Mark to meet us at the parking lot."

"Already did."

"Then let's get a move." Alex said. "And remember, Katsu, no stupid stunts."

"Yeah, yeah." Katsu said, barely listening, just eager to leave the music room.

'_He's not even listening..._' Alex sighed as they headed out the door and back into the hallway.

There was no sight of any of Them in the hall. Cassie then looked at her map and lead the way to the lot. The hallway was still surprisingly empty as they got closer to the parking lot.

"This doesn't feel right..." Alex said. "Cassie, are we almost there?"

"Yeah, closer than you think." Cassie replied as they rounded another corner.

"Wait!" Lain said, trying not to yell. The group stopped and looked at Lain.

"What's up, Cupid?" Katsu said.

"I just thought of the best idea ever..." Lain ran ahead of the group and stop between the split section of the hall, gazing at the fire extinguisher. "This is perfect for my little trap I had in mind for those dead freaks-"

"Lain!" Cassie and Alex yelled in unison.

"Yes?" She turned around to see about ten of Them surrounding her, and even more to right and left, having her completely trapped. "Oooh...ummm...SPAZ ATTACK!" Lain fired the fire extinguisher frantically, engulfing her and Them in a deep white.

"Damn it, Lain!" Cassie said as Katsu, Alex and herself ran forward to try and save Lain. "Just hold-" Cassie started as a figure...or figures popped out of the white cloud. A boy with neck-long black hair held their tri-colored friend in his arms.

"What exactly were you thinking?" Mark asked Lain.

"I'd like to ask you the same question. Were you thinking you'd get a little kiss for saving me?" Lain said jokingly, puckering her lips to taunt Mark.

"Keep your lips to yourself."

"Where did you come from?" Cassie asked Mark as he took notice of the other three. "And how did you take out that much of Them?" Her question was answered as the white cloud faded out to reveal a group of eight other people. "What the..."

"Dude, that was awesome! You guys just came out of nowhere and kicked ass!" Katsu said impressed by the larger group.

"Keep it down. You'll attract more of them." The older one of the group said as he took notice of the horde that was coming from one direction of the hall.

"Guess that's a bit too late." Said a girl holding a broomstick. Everyone knew her as Hoshiko Kurayami, and standing by her was the Student Council President, Rikio Hiroshi.

"We need to move, we can't afford to waste time here. We'll all head to the parking lot and take one of the buses. has a key to one so we don't need to head back for one." Rikio told everyone. "We'll leave introductions for later."

Everyone seemed to nod and the new group headed in the opposite direction of the giant horde. As they rounded another corner, they were welcomed by the doors to the parking lot. They all rushed through the doors only to see that it was also infested by the dead.

"Great, I had a feeling it'd be like this." Azure said as he put on his earbuds and scrolled down his MP3 for a fitting song, Mark doing the same.

"Guess you guys are getting ready too, huh." Cassie said with a smirk as she tightened her grip on her metal pipe.

"We didn't get this far for it to end like this." Rikio said, cracking his knuckles.

"You're all so serious." Hoshiko said, taking her side by Rikio.

"Time to kick some major ass!" Katsu somewhat yelled, attracting some of Them. "Yo, Black-eyes, you gonna shoot that thing or not."

"Um, maybe. I guess it'd be the right time." Satoshi said, a little unsure on the matter.

"What a day it's been, huh." Scott said.

"Tell me about." Alex said simply. Sayaka then threw her sharp ended pole at a random corpse. "Why'd you do that?"

"Cause I can use this." Sayaka picked up a spatha. Everyone had a surprised expression. "I know, what are the chances."

"I just hope we make it out of here." Shao said, looking at the dead corpses.

"Well, this is gonna be real fun." Mark said as a small grin appeared on his face.

"Um, guys, I don't really have a weapon." Lain said, somewhat hugging the extinguisher in her arms. About everyone facepalmed as they heard this.

"Way to ruin the mood." Mark sighed. "Stay close to Cassie."

Everyone then headed in the open parking lot and took out any of Them that got in their way. Though everything became a little unorganized as the group split into separate paths. Some of the teens were heading in the direction of the buses as other were taking another path.

"Crap, where is everyone heading?" Mark asked himself as he took out another one of Them.

"Everyone, we must regroup!" Rikio yelled as everyone began to assemble together.

"What the fucks going on?!" Sayaka yelled as made it to the others.

"We're all splitting up, we need to stick together." Hoshiko said, whacking aside a corpse that was lunging at her.

"Wait,where do-" Alex didn't get to finish as everyone noticed a giant horde of Them bash down the doors to almost every entrance to the lot.

The group went into a sort of panic mode as more of them rushed in, splitting the group apart once more, but into two groups this time. Azure took notice of this and began trying to fight his way through.

"What the hell are you doing, idiot?!" Sayaka said, grabbing Azure.

"We need to get to the others!" Azure answered.

"It's kinda too late for that!" Alex yelled over them.

"Mark!" Cassie yelled from the other side of the growing horde. "Catch!" Mark caught what Cassie threw over to him, and was a bit surprised as he saw the keys in his hands. "Better not scratch my car! Lain and I will head to the bus with these guys! Where should-" Mark couldn't hear the rest of what Cassie said as he heard Liana scream behind him.

"Hold on!" Mark kicked one of Them off Liana. "Come on, we can't make it to the others. We'll have to find my friends car."

"What exactly are we looking for?" Sayaka asked, fending off more of Them with Azure.

"A black CR-V." Alex answered simply, pointing over to the car they needed to go to.

"If only I had that 'Easy' button." Mark said sarcastically.

* * *

"There are too many of them near the buses. We might have to reroute." Rikio yelled over Satoshi's gun fire. Rikio was leading the group that consisted of himself, Satoshi, Hoshiko, Lain, Cassie, Shao, Katsu and Scott.

"I don't think we can back track now!" Hoshiko said, looking back at the horde behind them.

"I got this! Just sit back and watch, kiddos!" Katsu said, adjusting his goggles over his eyes. Katsu then charged at the horde blocking their way to the buses and started taking out multiple numbers of Them, surprising even Rikio, who thought Katsu was someone who didn't deserve his consent.

The group ran behind Katsu, all but . Scott stood there as he looked at the incoming horde. Rikio stopped in his tracks and looked back at Scott.

"What're you doing? We're almost there." Rikio said.

"The bus won't be able to get out of here if there's this much of Them." Scott said.

"What are you planning on-" Rikio didn't finish as Scott kicked a nearby vehicle as hard as he could, sounding off the car alarm. " Scott!"

"Get out of here, President." Scott said, tossing the bus keys to Rikio. "I said that I'd make sure that all the survivors I find would get out of here, and I'm keeping to my word."

Rikio was a bit reluctant, but he knew that it was too late to convince not to, neither was there the time. Rikio only bowed in respect like he used to do when he was in Japan.

"Thank you for everything."

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**A/N: That's a wrap! I hope you liked this chapter. I worked hard on it and I'm hope it payed off. Though I didn't exactly proofread it yet...Whatever. Let's review the two group for the final time this Episode.**_

_**Cast for Episode 1:**_

_**Group 1 - Mark Kuzen, Souske Hitori/Azure Seriu, Liana Josephine Richards, Sayaka Okasaki, Alexandra Grey**_

_**Group 2 - Rikio Hiroshi, Hoshiko Kurayami, Katsu Tokoroshi, Satoshi Minegishi, Cassie Vargez, Delainey Shallows, Shao Phan  
**_

_**Okay, from here on out I'm going to split the chapters. Next chapter will be focused on G1 while the next chapter will be focused on G2. It'll be like this until the groups are one.**_

_**Again for those I told I accepted, just hold on and be patient. I choose when your OC comes in, so stay calm and don't rage me with messages.**_

_**I guess that's all. 'Til next time!**_


	6. E1: In the Outside World

_**Episode 1: In the Outside World...**_

A black CR-V was driving on the roads of Los Angeles. In the car were five teens, driving was Sayaka Okasaki, in the passenger's seat was Azure Seriu, in the back seats were Liana Josephine Richards and Alexandra Grey, and way in the back, sitting in spacey truck of the car was Mark Kuzen. All five teens were exhausted from their battle at the school, some a little worried about the other group, wondering if they made it out.

"Where exactly are we heading?" Alex asked as the car took another turn, wanting to end the awkward silence.

"That's what I'm wondering. No ones said a damn word since we been on the move." Sayaka replied.

"What about family? We should make sure our families are safe." Liana said.

"My mom at my stepdad's side at the hospital. Probably the worst place to be right now, considering there's more dead there." Sayaka said in an uncaring voice. Azure gave her a little glare. "What the hell you staring at?"

"Don't worry about them, Azure, our moms will be fine." Mark said, yawning a bit from the back. Mark and Azure's mothers work at the hospital, so it worries both Mark and Azure about their mothers' well-being.

"It's not about that. Don't you care about your family, Sayaka? I bet they're worrying about you, and you don't care." Azure said. Sayaka just gave him a look before speaking.

"Is that all you do? Assume? They don't give a damn about my well-being." Sayaka said, reverting her attention back to the road. '_Though I wonder if my dad...my real dad made it_...'

"What about you…um…Alex, right?" Azure asked, resisting the urge to argue with Sayaka.

"Ah, my mom's at my house with my cousin. My uncle should be at the hospital too with my aunt who suddenly got sick…" Alex's voice saddened a bit as she thought about her aunt and uncle.

"I like your accent." Mark said randomly, complimenting Alex's English accent. "What about you, Ana? Got someone worth looking for?"

"Unfortunately, no…" Liana answered. "My mom was getting sick suddenly too…I kinda have little hope for her…" She felt a pat on her head as she looked out the window. She look at Mark, who was the one who patted her head.

"Stop sounding so depressed. Your mom should be fine, I bet you that she's just has the cold." Mark gave her a smile before laying back down. "Azure, you worried about your dad?"

"I don't think he need much worry..." Azure said, smiling to himself. "Knowing my dad, he's probably fending off Them with gun in his right and some alcohol in the other."

"You're being a bit stereotypic." Mark chuckled. "But it wouldn't hurt to check, right?"

"I guess so."

"What about your family, Mark?" Liana asked. Mark got up from his laying position and looked at Liana.

"Let me think. Mom's at the hospital and my sister are probably at their school or with my stepdad. If they are with my stepdad, then I got nothing to worry about." Mark replied.

"Why is that?"

"Angel's dad used to be to be a veteran for the military. Like my dad, he's well capable of surviving in an environment like this." Azure answered for Mark. "Being the sons of these ex-soldiers, we were put through some hell that our dads called training."

"Hey! Enough of this story time. Where the hell are we heading first?!" Sayaka said, a bit frustrated of aimlessly driving. Sakaya took another turn, only to reveal a giant horde of Them blocking the way to the road ahead. "Shit..." Sayaka slowly backed up the car and went back down the road that they came from.

"Well, I was gonna say that my house was closest, but it's on the same street that's being blocked..." Mark sighed. "Alex, your home nearby?"

"Um, I think so...I think it's about a few blocks away. I'll tell you when to turn" Alex answered.

"Better not be blockaded by those Things..." Sayaka muttered.

As Alex navigated Sayaka, the other three looked mindlessly out the window, looking at what used to be a peaceful neighborhood. No one could get over how everything that they knew just changed within hours. Now here they are now, worried about their families and how they'd make it out of this to the end...if there was an end...

The group came to an empty street of which Alex said was the one she lived on. Sayaka drove slowly as Alex scanned the streets for her house or any of Them.

"There." Alex said, pointing to one of the houses to the left. It was a small one-story house, painted a light green, and a had a garage on the side, which was open for some reason.

"It doesn't look like anyone's home." Azure said. "Still want to check?" Alex nodded slightly. The car slowly came to a stop at the house. "Anyone coming with?" Azure asked as he pulled out one of his ninjatos.

"I'll stay here, we have to be ready if your guys' asses are being chased out by Them." Sayaka said.

"My nail gun is out of nails..." Liana said, playing with the trigger of the nail gun.

"What about you, Angel?" There was no answer. "Angel?"

"Um, he's asleep..." Liana said after checking on Mark. Everyone was silent for a moment. They could hear the soft snoozes of Mark sleeping. "Should I wake him?"

"No, it's fine. Come on, Alex." Alex grabbed her messed-up guitar before leaving the car with Azure.

The two went into the open garage. It was quite a mess inside there. Boxes were scattered across the floor, and blood was stained on the side of the door to the house. This worried Alex for there wasn't any sign of good news except for the fact that the car wasn't there.

"So, how's your day going so far?" Azure asked Alex, trying to start up a conversation, but was unknowing of Alex's discomfort.

Alex is really uncomfortable in groups, including ones that consist of people she just met. Since she's also never had anything close to a boyfriend, she doesn't really know how to act around guys, therefore she's very uncomfortable with them. So being with Azure didn't really help Alex's case considering her situation right now.

"Pretty bad, I almost regret coming here..." Alex said negatively, putting some space between her and Azure as they reached the living room to the house.

"Why so down?" Azure asked, looking out the window to see that the car was still there. "I know things look bad, but there seems to be no one in-" There came a low moan from behind Azure. He quickly spun around and roundhouse kicked the corpse behind him in the face. He then lunged on top of the fallen corpse and impaled it in the head. He looked at Alex, who look at the corpse with wide eyes.

"Andrew..." was the name that slipped out of Alex's mouth as she looked at what was suppose to be her cousin.

"I take that you know this person." Alex just nodded. "Alright...I don't hear any more of Them in here. If you need to get anything, I suggest you get them now." Azure smiled slightly. "I'll keep guard, but don't take your time, I'm afraid Sayaka might ditch us if we don't."

"Is that really how she is?" Alex laughed softly and subconsciously. As she took notice of this she quickly turned in the direction of her room.

As Alex entered her room, she found it absolutely untouched, which made her happy. She looked at the pile of sheet music on her desk to the three instruments, a black and white bass guitar, an electric keyboard, and an acoustic guitar. She then grab a back-pack and put in a set of clothing, a few CD's, and music sheets. She then place the bag on her bed and brought a guitar case out of her closet and put her guitar inside it. Sighing, she walked out of the room with her bag and case, receiving a surprised expression from Azure.

"Hold this." Alex handed over the guitar case and headed to a desk in the corner of the living room. She then tried to pull back one of the drawers, only for it not to open. Rolling her eyes, she reached under the desk and into hand-sized hole and pulled out a key. After unlocking the drawer she drew out two item, an electric tuner for her guitar and a gun, a Glock 1911. "I never thought I'd use this..."

The pistol was a gift from her deceased father, who was the one who taught her all the things she knew about gun, from taking it apart to knowing how to shoot. Her father knew a lot about guns for he was in the U.S. army after they moved from London.

Alex put the gun in her bag and took back her guitar case from Azure, who was unknowing of the gun.

"Got everything?" Azure asked.

"Let's go." Alex replied as they both headed through the front door.

Azure stopped for a moment and glanced back at the bloodied guitar that Alex left behind. He then took a deep breath then reverted his attention back to the car. The passenger's window rolled as Azure walked over.

"Idiot! Behind you!" Sayaka yelled, but her warning was too late, one of Them was able to sneak up on Azure.

Azure and the corpse fell to the ground, the unprepared Azure becoming disarmed by the fall. Though he was able to get onto his back and try to push the dead on top of him off.

"Damn, how many times does this happen." Azure muttered under his breath as he gave the Thing an awkward uppercut to the jaw, breaking it completely off, but not knocking the corpse off him. "Get off!"

At that instant, a shoe met the corpse's face, knocking it off Azure and a few inches in the air, and met face-first into the end of a wooden sword.

"You're so loud..." Mark yawned as he whipped of the dead corpse and helped Azure to his feet.

"Don't you feel like this is becoming a repeated thing." Azure said, but then he noticed the serious expression on Mark's face. "What is it?"

"I won't be able to save you next time around. If you're going to try to fight one of Them with your fists, you better make sure it's a one-hit kill." Mark said. "If you don't, who knows who's lives will be on the line."

"You sound like my dad." Azure said.

"Your dad would be proud of you for, like myself, you'd do anything to protect the ones you hold close to your heart." Mark looked at the CR-V. "He'd be more proud of you if you could back up your resolution." Mark said as he made it back to the trunk of the car.

"Tell me something I don't know." Azure said as he picked up his ninjato, then heading back into the passenger's seat. "Where to next?"

"If we want to go to any more houses, then we need to get gas." Sayaka informed the others.

"Nearest gas station it is..." Mark said drowsily as if on the verge of sleep. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to catch some z's."

"How can you sleep at a time like this?" Liana asked, trying not to be rude.

"Just by asking that question..." Mark yawned. "I'll leave you in charge...Good night...I mean evening?...Whatever..." With that, Mark was silent for a few moment, then came the soft snoozes.

"The guy can sleep." Sayaka said, beginning to drive. "I guess you're in charge, Ana."

"Eh?! Why do I have to do be in charge?! Azure, right? Why don't you be in charge." Liana said, trying to get out of being leader.

"Why? Because I'm a boy? No thank you, Sexist, I'll play as guard." Azure joked. Liana sighed and looked at Alex.

"Why you looking at me? I'm not fit for being a leader." Alex said.

"Okay, then I no choice do I." Liana said.

"I was joking, you know, you don't need to lead if you think you're not up for it." Azure told Liana.

"No, no, it's fine." Liana said with a smile. "Alright, I'll take lead for today. There's a gas station a few streets away, we just have to hope the street we need to go through isn't blocked. It also as some food, so we should pack up as much as we can."

"Wow, you know what you're doing." Azure said, a bit impress. "Do you know which gas station she's talking about, Sayaka?"

"Of course I do, I live in this city too you know." Sayaka said with attitude.

"A simple 'yes' would have been fine." Azure said.

"Does it look like I care?" Sayaka asked as she made a turn. Azure ignored her comment.

The route that they wasn't a long one. Along the way, Liana was trying to get Alex to play for everyone, but Alex refused, saying that she's not in the right mood to play. Azure and Sayaka were silent at the front. Azure was watching the streets for any of Them or survivors as Sayaka drove on, focusing on the road. After a few minutes, the group found themselves at a gas station that seemed completely unoccupied.

"We're here." Sayaka said.

"Alright, I'm gonna go down this time." Liana said.

"I'll go with." Azure said, about to exit the car.

"You should stay, Azure. I'll take the sleepy-head in the back. Sayaka, can you open the trunk?" Liana asked. Sakaya sighed before pulling the little lever that opens the trunk. Liana crawled inside to Mark's side. "Hey, Mark, get up." Mark gave no response. Liana started to softly shake him. "Come on, get-" Mark suddenly grabbed Liana and pulled her close to him as possible.

"Good mor-" When Mark opened his eyes, he cocked his head as Liana began to turn a bit red. "Liana Josephine Richards, what have you done to my sister?" Mark looked around, seeing that he was still in the trunk of his friend's car and the gas station they had stopped at. "So it wasn't a dream..."

"Can you let go of me? Please." Liana asked.

"Oh, sorry about that." Mark said, letting of Liana and sitting up, yawning a bit. "I should have known you weren't my sister, you actually have a chest." With that, Mark exited the car.

"Angel..." Azure muttered, shaking his head and chuckling a bit.

"The guy doesn't know how to keep his thoughts to himself." Sayaka said, exiting the car to put in some gas.

"You okay there?" Alex asked as Liana sat up.

"Yeah...I'm good." Liana replied as she got out of the trunk and closed it.

"What did you wake me for?" Mark asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I want you to come with me inside this place, we're going to get food." Liana answered.

"Who's idea was that?" Mark said as he looked around for any of Them.

"Mine." Liana said simply.

"Look's like you took my joke a little seriously." Mark said, twirling the bokken in his hand. A tired smile on his face, he looked through the windows of the gas station, seeing the many foods they could possibly get. "Great idea anyways, I was getting a bit hungry, haven't eaten since...yeah, I haven't eaten anything yet." Mark's stomach made a growling sound.

"No wonder you were so tired." Liana said. "Let's get going before any of Them come by here."

'What makes you think They aren't inside...' Mark thought, his grip on his bokken tightened a bit. "Let's get us some food."

Liana and Mark headed inside the building. There wasn't anyone inside and all the lighting came from the many windows inside. Mark grabbed a few shopping bags and Liana and him began scavenging for food that would last the group awhile. There wasn't really any healthy typed foods, so Liana made sure that they didn't grab anything that would be too unhealthy. They manage to find some water bottles too. Once they thought they were done, the two headed near the cashier's counter and made sure they got what they needed.

"Too bad they didn't have any gas canisters." Liana said.

"I'm happy they didn't, I would have to sleep next to those things." Mark said, looking towards the clock. "Would you believe that the outbreak of this thing began just hours ago?"

"I find it hard to believe myself. I would have never guessed that the weird sudden sickness that came over a lot of people in the country, maybe even the world, would make people like this" Liana said. "We got real lucky to have made it out of Primestone, now that I think about it."

Mark thought back to their hour of trying to escape the hell of their former school. How Azure, Sayaka and himself were trying to get to the clubroom, meeting Liana and Shao and the other group, and the most bothersome memory was being separated from the others and his two female friends. After being separated, they had struggled to escape the parking lot, Sayaka and Azure had to fend off a bunch of Them as Mark got the other two girls in the car. Once everyone got into the car, Sayaka was chosen as driver for she had more driving experience out of everyone else. Though they didn't drive out immediately, there was a whole horde of Them blocking the way. The only reason they were able to escape was because Their attention was pulled away by a loud car alarm going off. Soon after they spent almost another hour trying to find a road with a low population of walking corpses.

"Really lucky..." Mark said as he grabbed a Snicker's bar from one of the bags. Mark had decided to get chocolate for himself and for anyone who asked. "I'll start bringing this stuff outside. If you think we need anything else...Well, you know what to do. See ya outside, Leader." Mark smiled a warm smile and grabbed the many bag then heading out the door.

Liana sighed before pulling out a gold locket that was in a shape of a heart with a diamond in the middle. Inside was a picture of her mother and father and herself. This locket reminded Liana of...the better times in her life, like the times where her father was alive.

"Dad..." Liana whispered softly to the locket. "What should I do at time like this..."

The door burst open, Mark holding a bloodied wooden sword. A expression of concern was washed off when he looked over at Liana.

"Do you not hear the commotion outside?" Mark said casually.

"What's going on?" Liana asked, a bit worried.

"They're here." Mark said as two of Them burst through the door. Mark lepted back, kicking one of the Them down while pushing his bokken through the skull of the other. He then proceeded on crushing the head of the one on the ground. "Yeah, we should get going. Sayaka and Azure can't hold Them all off."

Without word, Liana ran out of the building with Mark. Outside, Azure and Sayaka were fighting a group of Them, trying to defend the only safe way of transportation they had. Mark jumped in to help as Liana got into the car.

"What the hell took so long?!" Sayaka yelled as she beheaded three of Them with her spatha.

"It hasn't been two minutes yet, so no need to complain." Mark replied as he gave a hard kick to one of the corpses, causing a domino-effect. "Azure, have you seen my MP3?" Mark asked as he noticed Azure wearing earbuds.

"Try your pocket." Azure told Mark while stabbing one of Them in the face and spin kicking two of Them down. "We should get in the car. Sayaka, could you-"

"I already now." Sayaka pulled out her sword out of a dead corpse and got into the driver's seat, starting up the refueled car.

"Time to jump in!" Mark said as he dived into the back seat with Alex and Liana. Azure slid across the hood of the car and got into the passenger's seat. "Hit the gas!"

Sayaka pressed on the pedal and the car began driving off, running over any of Them that got in the way. The group relaxed themselves as they drove down the road, but they became startled as a phone rang off. Mark reached into his pocket pulled out his phone. It read of an unknown number, leaving Mark in curiosity of who it was.

"'Ello."

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**A/N: I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry if there are a few mistakes, I had just finished this in the morning before school, so I had no time to proof-read it. Well, next chapter is gonna be on the other group and what they had resolved to do. I will have the two group meet up eventually, which is kinda obvious. Also, I finished making the new groups for Episode 2, so you might be able to guess what I'm going to do, and trust me, it's not as obvious as the the separate group chapters.**_

_**Well anyways, review if you want, it'd be pretty nice if you did so I would know what you guys thought. 'Til next time!**_


	7. E1: Finding A Place To Call Home

_**A/N: Sorry this took awhile, I had to write an essay on Romeo and Juliet, which took up a lot of time, and I got stuck looking for some good Yuffie Kisaragi pics...Yeah, I was just having one of those days...Well, enjoy!**_

_**Episode 1: Finding A Place To Call Home**_

On the road near the sandy shore of the beach was a blue and white bus. Drivng this bus was Katsu Tokoroshi, in the seats behind him was Delainey Shallows and Shao Phan, behind them was Cassie Vargez, standing in the middle of the bus was Rikio Hiroshi and next to him was Hoshiko Kurayami, and way in the back was Satoshi Minegishi. Katsu was enjoying himself while he drove, occasionally he would purposely run over an unfortune walking corpse that was nowhere near in their way. Lain was talking to Shao trying to lighten her mood since she's been a bit quiet since they escaped Primestone High. Cassie was doing her best to try to ignore Lain while she aimlessly looked out the window watching as more of Them appeared on the beach. Rikio talked with Hoshiko as she was growing worried about Satoshi for he had been sitting in silence in the back, seemingly deep in thought. Rikio walked to the back of the bus to find out what was on Satoshi's mind.

"What's wrong, Satoshi?" Rikio asked, taking a seat next to him. Satoshi's black eyes looked at Rikio from the corner of his eye.

"My sisters. Even though we searched for them at the school, they weren't there..." Satoshi said.

While looking for survivors at the school, Satoshi was unable to locate his younger sisters. He became more worried of their well-being and of his youngest sibling, his brother, who was still an elementary schooler and wouldn't really have anyone to protect him unless the teachers there were able to protect him and his classmates. Though he had little hope, feeling as if he had failed as an older brother.

"I'm sure Hikari and Sakura are alright." Rikio told Satoshi, who was a bit surprised that Rikio knew his sisters' names. "I knew Hikari, she was our treasurer, a very good one at that. I also know she can defend herself, she was in the Martial Art club. I think Sakura joined too."

"She did." Satoshi said as he smiled to himself, but that smile went away as fast as it came. "But hand-to-hand combat won't last a person long...No offense."

"I'm sure they'll be fine. They did have a good instructor." Rikio said.

"Who? You?" Satoshi said looking out the window of the bus.

"Unfortunately, no. The captain of that club, Mark Kuzen. Though he's one I don't really approve of, he is still a great martial artist." Rikio said.

"What history do you have with the captain? And why is it so bad?" Satoshi asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"You could say that Mark and I got off on the wrong foot. Two years ago, who stood on different positions on a certain matter, and soon violence followed. That certain matter had pushed us far from being friends, for Mark hates me and I don't see him as a person who deserves my respect."

"You must be talking about the fight that took place between the Student Council and a group of students that were standing up for another student they said was innocent of a murder case." Satoshi said, remembering his Junior year at Primestone. "The girl was said to have murdered the former-principal and two teachers..."

"That was a horrible case." Hoshiko said, joining the two in the back. "But the fight was even worse too. Multiple student from underclassmen to upperclassmen were seriously hurt, we were lucky that no one died."

"Was Mark on the other side? Is that why you don't trust him?" Satoshi said.

"Wrong."

The three looked over at peachy-toned girl, who was now standing up, hands on her hips. Cassie wore a serious expression on her face, her green eyes glaring at Rikio. Rikio just looked back at her as he knew that Cassie and Lain shared a friendly bond with Mark.

"He doesn't think Mark deserves his respect or trust because Mark was one of the two who lead the group opposing the Student Council and the State Court. Mark and a guy from Skylines High put aside their own time to try to help their friend, they planned everything, took the consequences of everything-"

"Almost got the whole school into conflict, threatening lives, just to prove that that girl was innocent. Would that kid from that private school and Mark really go that low?" Rikio said.

"You and your little Council buddies pushed him to do it! You all knew how important June was to Mark!" Cassie said, raising her voice. "All Mark and Phil wanted was an open ear, someone who would listen to reason. That's the reason they confronted you guys-"

"That's enough! Going deeper into this will only lead to endless arguments." Hoshiko said standing between the standing Cassie and the sitting Rikio. "Besides, we all got what we wanted after that, the Court let June go and Phil Angelo dropped the group."

"What about Mark?" Satoshi asked.

"He was hospitalized after being beaten by Rikio, then he was given a month suspension." Hoshiko explained. Though, hearing Hoshiko, Cassie laughed a bit.

"President of Student Council beat the Captain of the Marital Arts and Kendo club? That's a lie." Hoshiko shot a look at Cassie. "What is it, Blondy? Got a problem? Want to stand up for you little boyfriend here?"

"H-He's not my boyfriend!" Hoshiko said, her face turning a bit red. Hoshiko was about to go on and defend herself, but Rikio got onto his feet and put a hand on her shoulder. "Rikio?"

"That's enough, we don't want to be fighting with each other if we're going to work together. Hoshiko take a seat with me and Satoshi. And Miss Confidence, you should sit back with your friends over there. I think it'd be better if we sat apart from each other for the time being."

"Looks like we agree on something." Cassie said, brushing her dark-brown disheveled bangs to the side. Cassie sighed as she took back her seat behind Shao and Lain. Shao had fallen to sleep somehow, leaving Lain to talk to their driver, Katsu. Lain looked over at Cassie, who returned a look.

"So, Cass, how ya feeling?" Lain said with a big grin.

"Bored. The guys over there are probably badmouthing me, but who gives a damn, right?" Cassie smirked to herself. "Yo, Katsu, there a CD player up there?"

"Let me take a look, Peachy..." Katsu scanned for a CD player while running over a few of Them without looking at the road. "And we got one right here. Got any songs that could hype up the mood? I'm so god damn bored."

"Got one right here." Cassie said, reaching into her bag and tossing a CD that had the words, "Avenged Sevenfold", on it. "The third song should adjust the mood."

Katsu put in the CD and pressed the fast-forward button twice. There was a moment of silence. Then came the sound of guitar came into play, followed by the sound of drums after the guitar would slightly pause. As the guitar began resonate for moments, the drums and guitar began to play a a faster beat, then came the first verse.

"Carry On, huh! Well this send a great rush through my body!" Katsu yelled as he raised the volume. He then adjusted his blue goggles over his eyes and sped up the bus. As he took a sharp turn, the three saw a giant horde of Them. Katsu smiled to himself and gave out a little laugh. "Just what I was hoping for! Let's kill these dead beats!"

"Go, go,go!" Lain cheered as Katsu pressed hard on the pedal, making the bus go full throttle. Then Lain thought of something. "Bus, song, and zombies...Don't you think this feels a bit familiar?"

"Maybe you play too much video games..." Said the girl next to Lain. Lain's dark-brown leather eyes met Shao's red eyes, which were still wearing a bit of drowsiness.

"Morning sleepy-head!" Lain said with a smile, Shao returned a smile before looking out the window. Shao wasn't surprised about their situation, knowing how their driver was like after he had drove them to random places for the first five minutes. "Hey, Katsu, you got something to drink, our little friend here might sleep through this." Katsu kicked back his bag to Lain.

"Pull out the small cooler in my bag, there's soda inside!" Katsu said. "Now don't sleep on us, Red, you don't want to miss the amazing Katsu take out over 200 hundred of these Things!"

Cassie looked back at the three in the back. Hoshiko, Rikio and Satoshi were talking about something. Though, Cassie didn't care much about what they were talking about, she didn't even care much about what they were going to do next. Her father was out doing military stuff somewhere out of the country and her mother was dead, so she had nothing to go home to. She sighed before listening to the song again.

In the back, Satoshi began to question his new friend. He felt that maybe Rikio wasn't really the good person he thought he was. As Satoshi threw question after question at Rikio, Rikio would sit calmly as Hoshiko defended him as hard as she could, but Satoshi was a very good interrogator and easy countered her. Soon, Rikio had enough of being accused of being a horrible person

"There are two sides to every story, and each side see's it differently. I see that situation as both sides' fault. There were some Council members who you could consider the ones who pushed Mark, even I said something I shouldn't have. But it's also Mark's fault for throwing the punch and Phil's fault for not restraining him, but joining in instead." Rikio said calmly. Satoshi looked at him for a moment. He then sighed and spoke.

"Who's this Phil from Skyline High? And why would he want to help Mark when both schools have a horrible rivalry?" Satoshi asked as he remembered his years in Primestone. All the fights, graffitie, break-ins, the horiffic history of the two school...

"Phil Angelo, a well known student between both Primestone and Skyline for his superb fighting skills and knowledge. We assumed Phil had some kind of relationship with June Sikira, the girl who was accused of the murders. Why he was helping Mark...Well we don't know." Hoshiko answered.

"What about Mark? What relationship did she have with him?" Satoshi asked, though the answer seemed obvious.

"They were a couple. Delainey Shallows was her best friend, so of course June was also friends with Cassie Vargez. And if you were wonderng, Cassie and Delainey also took part in Mark's rebellion." Rikio said, though he still noticed the look that Satoshi was giving him. "I'm not a bad person. The reason I fought back that day was to try and restrain Mark...All I regret-"

A car came crashing into the side of the bus, the impact sending the bus over on its left side. The teens were sent the one side as the bus hit the ground. They could also hear the car that hit them and the screams that were soon to follow. Each member of the group got to their feet, each looking up to the windows above them. There were a bunch of Them climbing up and bashing on the window. Cassie walked over to the CD player and eject the CD inside, stopping the music.

"Why'd you do that?" Shao asked.

"I'm hoping it'll attract less of Them." Cassie looked over at Rikio. "We need to get out of here, those windows won't last very long with Them hitting it like that." Cassie got hold of the pipe she had from the school and passed it to Lain. Lain gave her a look, but she just smiled. "Don't worry, I got this." She then reached for something into the black bag that was left behind in the bus. She pulled out the SOG SEAL knife that her dad gave her. She gave a faint smile before putting the bag on and adjusting the dog-tag necklace she had on.

Everyone got hold have their belongings and weapons, Katsu with his bat, Hoshiko and her broomstick, Satoshi with his M16, Shao with her wooden sword, and Lain with her fire extinguisher in her back-pack and her new pipe. Rikio walked over the emergency exit that was on the roof of the bus.

"Ready?" Rikio said as he looked at the others.

"GO!" Katsu yelled as he kicked open the emergency exit and out into the open streets of Los Angeles, taking out as much of Them as he could.

"That was unexpected." Hoshiko said.

"More like smart. He has Their attention." Rikio pointed at one of the buildings. "Head to that mall, we'll take shelter there until this street becomes clear enough for us to make a move."

The rest of the group exited the fallen bus and ran to the mall, Hoshiko and Cassie taking the front as Shao and Rikio covered the group from the back. Lain stayed close to Satoshi, since she isn't the greatest of fighters. Katsu jumped on top of a car and leapt to the group, smiling as he reached group and joined them as they entered the mall. The corpses started bashing the glass doors after the group all got in.

"Do you think They'll get in?" Shao asked.

"The glass should hold for a while, it doubled layered." Satoshi answered.

"Though I'd feel a bit safer if it were boarded up." Hoshiko said.

"That can be done, Vice." Katsu said, quickly spinning around and smashing his bat against dead flesh, knocking the corpse a couple feet away, not getting up from the hit. "But first, we need to clean house."

"Got your back on this one." Cassie said, walking forward. Shao and Lain following behind.

"Hey, we need to stick together." Satoshi said.

"We're just getting rid of the dead in here, it's fine for us to split up." Rikio told Satoshi. The blonde next to him nodded in agreement.

"Okay, that settles it. Prez, we'll cover the third and fourth floor." Katsu told Rikio. "Alright guys, let's play a game of follow the leader, copy what I do!"

The group split into two, Rikio, Hoshiko and Satoshi clearing the first and second floor, and Katsu, Cassie, Lain and Shao cleaned out the remaining floors. The mall slowly became empty of the dead, but the corpses by the entrance began to grow. The two groups came together at the blocked entrance, excluding Katsu and Lain.

"Where's Delainey and Katsu?" Hoshiko asked Cassie and Shao.

"They're-" Shao started.

"Here!" Lain yelled, carrying a few 2X4's. When she reached the group, she dropped the boards of wood. "Boy, those were heavy." Lain looked at the group and a question popped in her head. She cocked her head and asked, "Where's Katsu? He said he was going to head here."

At that moment, the group heard glass shatter from the second floor. They looked up to see two figures free falling down to them. Every moved away from the spot where one of Them fell. The corpse made a move to get up, but the second figure landed knees first into the corpse's stomach, blood spraying outward, staining the near by walls and entrance. The black spiky haired boy then smashed the Thing's head in with his bat. Taking a deep breath Katsu's green eyes looked at the group behind him, they all wore a surprised expression on their face. Katsu gave a small smile as he turned to the group.

"And that's one of the many ways to kill a zombie. Any questions?" Katsu said with a chuckle.

"Are you okay?" Rikio asked. "You fell from the second floor."

"Dude, it'd take a bit more than that to hurt me." Katsu said. "But forget that, look at my bat! It's even more deadlier than before!" The group notice the hammered in nails on the tip of the bat. "Heh, hey, Peachy, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Cassie replied.

"Who do you voodoo, bitch!" Katsu yelled, laughing along with Lain at the joke.

"Yeah real funny. You two must have stopped by the game store here, huh." Cassie said with a small smile. "So, Rikio, what's the plan from here on out. We gonna look for our family and see if any of them are okay?"

"I don't think we can do that with Them blocking the way." Satoshi pointed out.

"We'll stay here until it seems clear for us to make a move. So we'll have to board up those door and any windows that They can get in through. After, we'll find anything we might need, this is a mall after all." Rikio said. "And everyone is going to help with boarding up this place, the more we have working, the faster we get this done. We'll split into three groups, two groups of two and one group of three. Group one will be Hoshiko and I, group two will be Satoshi and Cassie, and group three is Katsu, Shao and Delainey. Any objection to the groups?"

"I got none." Cassie sighed. '_At least I'm with the guy with the gun_...'

"Yay, I got the fun group! Shao Shao, no more sleeping okay! We're going to have a big adventure in the mall!" Lain said excitedly. "Katsu, I know we're tempting, but keep your hands to yourself, we were mad to be looked at, not touched by a perv!" Lain told Katsu, sticking her tongue out at him then laughing.

"I might be tempted by Red, but I know I won't have any problems with you, Cupid." Katsu said, walking away, hands behind his head, whistling a tune.

"You bastard!" Lain yelled, making both Shao and Katsu laugh. Lain notice Shao laughing and was a bit surprise that the shy girl was laughing. "Hey, you have a cute laugh."

"Ah, I...I hate my laugh." Shao said.

"Aw, come on, it's wonderful." Lain said.

As Lain went on about Shao laugh and how she should express herself more, Rikio walked up to Katsu.

"Katsu, you and Lain went to get things to board up the entrance, right?" Rikio asked.

"Yup, I know this mall like the back of my hand. The 2X4's weren't hard to find and I got a few hammer for us to use." Katsu walked over to the corpse that he killed, and pulled out three hammers that were on both shoulders of the body. "Had to use'em for long range, so they're a bit bloody and here are the nails."

After Katsu handed a hammer and a can of nails to Rikio, Rikio got everyone into order and split everyone to certain parts of the mall. Rikio and Hoshiko stayed at the entrance they were at and they began to board up the entrance.

"What is your plan, Rikio?" Hoshiko asked as she pressed a board up against the door so that Rikio could hammer it in.

"It all depend on what the others want to do. My parents have been dead for a long while and your parents are on a trip, so we don't have anyone to worry about, but, excluding Satoshi, the others might be worrying about their family." Rikio explained.

"What about Cassie and Delainey, their friends with Mark, so I don't think they trust you at all." Hoshiko said. Rikio was silent for a moment.

"The least they could do is work together with us like they are now, it's their choice to trust me or not." Rikio said, finishing hammering the board to the door. "Probably one more would do the job."

"I'll get the last one for the door."

Satoshi and Cassie walked silently to another entrance that needed boarding up. Cassie was carrying a few 2X4 they needed, and Satoshi had the hammer and his gun, which was at the ready in his right hand. Every once and a while, Satoshi would try to start a conversation, but only received short responses. But now Satoshi was getting tired of the silence.

"So, you got family you want to check up on?" Satoshi asked.

"No." Cassie answered.

"Are you not worried about them?"

"It's not that I'm not worried about them, it's because it's not worth it to try to look for them." Cassie said.

"That's a bit cold..." Satoshi said. Cassie gave him a certain look before sighing.

"My mom's dead and my dad is out in some other country doing God knows what for the military." Cassie explained

"Oh...I'm sorry..." Satoshi now felt like he went into a touchy subject and somewhat withdrew from the talking.

"What's wrong with you?" Cassie asked. Satoshi looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Satoshi replied.

"I know you're a cop, I've seen you a few times on duty. Seeing your personality like this, it makes me question how you even got the job in the first place." Cassie said. "Are you one of those officers that just take the orders instead of giving them?"

Satoshi was a bit surprised that she knew he was an officer of the law, and was a bit curious if the others knew. But he focused back to the conversation at hand.

"You could say that." Satoshi said. "I'm still a bit young and I don't think I'm ready to lead just yet."

"Yeah, you'll get far with that attitude." Cassie said, rolling her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Satoshi asked. Cassie remained silent

'_Boys_...'

Katsu, Shao and Lain were finishing up the last window they needed to board up. Since they were a group of three, the group moved faster than the others. Lain went on talking about her great traps she made and how Mark was very prone into getting caught in her traps while she helped Shao and Katsu board up.

"And there was this one Christmas when we were in elementary school, I got both Cass and Mark with my mistletoe trap. They both hated me for that." Lain said.

"And what exactly happened on this Christmas?" Shao asked, holding the the last board up for Katsu to hammer in.

"Well, there is a mistletoe involved, so I bet there was a bit of a smoochy-smoochy, kiss-kiss mixed in with a unique touch." Katus chuckled a bit, almost hammering his finger. "Whoa...That was close."

"Not only was it unique, it was the first trap I made. It consisted of a single misltoe, Christmas lights and a lot of timing." Lain told them.

"Why don't you just tell us what happen." Shao said, wiping her hands clean after Katsu finished boarding the window.

"Okay. Here I was, waiting with my best friend back then. I just got done being scolded by my parents for bad grades...Like that mattered in elementary school, but anyways, I had called both Mark and Cassie to come over at my friend's house. Cass was the first to come, as I expected. When Mark came knocking, I sent Cass to open. She walked over to the door and opened it for Mark." Lain took a breather before continuing. "As Mark was about to walk in, I pulled on a long thin string and Mark tripped over it and snapping in during his fall. Mark's lips met Cassie's, and then the machines I set-up wrapped the two together, and next thing you know, Mark and Cassie are wrapped in Christmas lights, dangling a few inches from the ground, their faces red. After I put them down, I showed them the picture of them kissing under the mistletoe above the door, and they freaked out real bad. Mark felt bit lost, Cassie didn't say a word, June looked like she was a jealous and I was laughing my ass off."

"What grade were you in back then?" Shao asked.

"Fifth grade, the age where I started rebeling against my parents." Lain replied.

"My bad, Cupid, didn't know you were a rebel, at age 11 too." Katsu said.

"Meh, my parents were trying to make me the best politician they could. Made me more mature as a kid back then, had the knowledge of a highschooler when it came to politics back then. When the stress I had became noticeable, Mark and June were the ones who made me see the fun side of life." Lain said with a smile as she remember the days when she was a fifth grader.

"I've been meaning to ask, who is this June girl?" Shao asked.

"Yeah, and I want to know where Azure is. What kind of friend are you to be forgetting about a good friend of yours." Katsu said jokingly.

"Ah, June...June is-"

"Lain!" Cassie's voice yelled from afar. Lain and the other two looked at the two figures walking over to them. "Let's head back to Rikio and his blonde bitch."

"Don't talk about Hoshiko like that, she's done nothing bad to you so don't go calling her something like that." Satoshi said. Cassie shook her head a bit.

"Why we heading back to them?" Lain asked.

"We're going to be discussing on our next move." Satoshi answered simply.

"Sounds kinda boring." Katsu said. "I wanna kill some more of those lamebrains outside!"

"Okay...With that aside, let's go." Cassie said.

The group walked back over to the entrance they came through. The spot was showed no sign of Rikio or Hoshiko. The group didn't think they were gone, so they waited at the entrance, and as it seemed like they would never come, Rikio and Hoshiko appeared, seemingly talking about something.

"We could have helped them...If only we hadn't boarded up the whole place." Hoshiko said.

"No use worrying about it now. What's done is done." Rikio said.

"What are you talking about?" Satoshi asked.

"There was a black haired fellow in a blue zip up hoodie and a guy with snow white hair in a black clothing, they wanted to get in, but all the windows and doors were boarded up tightly." Hoshiko said. "Since we couldn't get them in, the guy with black hair pulled out a walkie-talkie and told the guy on the other end that there wasn't a way in. The two ran off before any of Them could get them."

"Okay, they survived, now let's get on with what we're gonna do now." Cassie said. Rikio stepped forward and cleared his voice.

"First, I need to know if anyone here needs to check on family." Rikio said.

"My dad and mom are at the police station, I think my sis is there too." Katsu said. "Though I think their fine. My dad and mom are the sheriff and deputy-sheriff, and my big sis is part of the army. So, I'm fine."

"Dad's out of town." Cassie said simply.

"I'm not sure where my siblings are, but what ever we're doing, I'll follow, I'll just make sure that I keep an eye out for any of them." Satoshi said.

"I'm not sure where my dad and brother are. I'm sure their not home, who would stay home when those Things can just break in..." Shao said.

"My family can go die in a hole!" Lain yelled. Everyone looked at her, wondering if they should take what she said seriously, now knowing of what her personality is like. "I'm just kidding, I'm not sure where my dad and mom are, and my brother was with my aunt today and they could be anywhere, even outside the city."

"So that leaves us with one choice then, to find refuge in a safe place for the time being." Rikio said.

"Why not here? I mean it has everything, food, games, clothes, games, medication and oh, did I mention, GAMES!" Katsu said.

"We can't stay here because the boarded windows and doors won't last forever, and we don't have anything good to protect us from a giant horde. We're gonna have to go to a place with firearms."

"That's simple, we should go to the police station my dad works in." Katsu said. "Gots pistols to shotguns and loads of ammunition."

"But isn't the armory to the guns all locked up?" Hoshiko asked.

"True, but I work at that station, I know where the keys are." Satoshi said.

"Okay then, the police station is where we're going to head." Rikio said. Then came a soft buzzing sound of a phone vibrating.

Lain took out here phone and saw the message she just received. When she saw who it was from, a wave a relief washed over her. She smiled to herself and looked over at Cassie.

"It's Mark and his group! They're alive!"

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**A/N: Well that was fun to write. Again I'm sorry this took awhile, my time was being stolen by reality. But who cares about that now, let's review what's going on!**_

_**Group 1: Goal- look for family**_

_**Group 2: Goal- Find refuge in the police station**_

_**We've also got little hints of almost all the characters' past. (I'll get deeper into them as the characters bond)**_

_**And we have Phil Angelo and the other two mysterious characters being mentioned. Is it a bit obvious that they'll join the group or will something else happen...I don't know either but I'll get there.**_

_**I hoped you enjoyed! Ba-bye!**_


	8. E1: While the Night is Young

_**Episode 1: While the Night is Young**_

"'Ello."

"Hey, is this Mark Kuzen?" a male voice asked.

"Um, yeah, who is this?" Mark replied.

"It's Phil Angelo, you know, from two years ago!" Phil said.

"Phil! How'd you get this number?!" Mark said surprised, Azure looked back at his friend.

"Is that Phil Angelo you're talking to?" Azure asked, but Mark rose his hand to gesture him to be quiet.

"I'm surprised that you haven't changed your number since two years ago. Are you alone?" Phil asked.

"No, I got a few...friends with me." Mark smiled as he said "friends", he didn't know why, but it just felt right. "What about you? I hear a car going on your end."

"Yeah, I'm with six others. One of them says he knows you, saying that he was an old friend of yours." Phil told Mark.

"Really now..." Mark stopped to think. "I know a lot of people. Who is it?"

"His name is Ka-" Phil paused before yelling. "Shadow! Watch out for that bus!" Mark heard a loud crash and a girl scream, then nothing.

"Phil...Phil! Damn it..." Mark lowered the phone from his ear, then he sighed in frustration. He went through his recent calls list on his phone and tried to call Phil again. The phone slowly rang, but no one answered. "Great, talk about bad luck."

"Who was that?" Liana asked.

"A good friend of mine from Skyline High, Phil. From the sounds of it, he and a few other people just got into a car accident." Azure, Alex and Liana stared at Mark with surprised expressions. Mark smiled a weak smile. "There's nothing I can do about...Please stop staring at me, just...just pay attention to where we need to go."

"Ma-" Liana began before Azure put a hand on her shoulder. Liana looked towards Azure, who was slightly shaking his head.

Mark is a good-natured person, sometimes trying to cheer others up, always trying to help his friends and family at their time at need. All this covered for his quiet and somewhat lonely appearance, which he hardly likes to show. But, due to certain events, he is prone to depression. The loss of someone he loves or cares about will send him spiraling into a deep depression. Thinking of his friend, Phil, who had helped him during hard times and who Mark considered a good friend, he couldn't help but think he was dead, but what's keeping him from falling into depression was the hope of Phil being alive. But the thought still bothered him.

While Mark kept silent in the back, Sayaka was wondering where they were going next.

"Before I start driving even more aimlessly, I'd like to know, where the hell are we going?" Sayaka said, stopping the car after she was sure that none of Them were in the area.

"Let's head to my place." Azure said. "My dad might be there, and if not, I need to grab some stuff anyways."

"Not worried that he might be dead?" Sayaka asked.

"Not one bit." Azure laughed. "It'd take a lot to kill someone like my dad."

"So we don't need to stop to talk about this, we should head to my house next, then to yours, Sayaka." Liana said.

"Why my house after yours, what about Mark's-" Then Sayaka remember the street that Mark's house was on. "Never mind."

"So it's a plan. We go to Azure's house, then mine, then Sayaka's, and finally Mark's." Liana said.

"Wait! You plan for us to head to Mark's house?! Are you fucking insane?!" Sayaka yelled.

"Sayaka's got a point. Mark's street is infested with those Things, and even if we were to get to his house, it's going to be ten times harder to get out." Azure said, feeling a bit bad.

"But it'll be unfair for us to not give it a chance." Alex told Azure and Sayaka. "And it'll be unfair for Mark if he's the only one who didn't get to see if his family even if they're not there, at least give him a chance to check." Everyone was a silent for a moment, which kind of confused Alex. "Um, did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's just the first time we heard talk that much, my English accented friend." Mark said. The group looked at Mark, who only smiled back at them.

"You're all cheery again." Sayaka said plainly.

"I can't keep sulking over something I couldn't do anything about..." Mark said, facing away from the group and out the back window, hiding the weak smile on his face.

The drive to Azure house was a long one. There were many roads that were blocked by Them, and each time They looked like they were growing in numbers, worrying the five teens. When they finally reached Azure house, it was 7:30 PM, thirty minutes of driving. Liana and Sayaka hoped that the routes to their homes weren't blockaded by Them. They both had no one really to go home to, but they needed a few things from the houses that might help them survive longer.

"This is it." Azure said, pointing a white, two-story house. It was surrounded by a barbed-wired fence and piles of sand bags were stacked on both sides of the porch.

"It looks like a military base more than a home. Was your dad one of those really paranoid veterans?" Sayaka asked as she looked at the house.

"No, he's just prepared." Mark and Azure said at the same time, laughing a bit after.

"It's kinda like this every time my family moves, my dad always modifies the house to look like it's ready for a full scale attack." Azure said. "Angel's dad always jokes around about how my dad might be absolutely paranoid, but my dad keeps saying the same thing over and over again. 'No comrade, I am just prepared.' Heh, it's kinda like he saw this coming, or maybe something similar to this."

"Great, your dad's a paranoid veteran and a psychic wannabe." Sayaka said.

"Have you been listening to Azure?" Alex asked the caramel haired girl.

"Maybe, maybe not. I could care less of what he says." Sayaka told Alex. Mark whistled in the back before muttering "Ouch."

"That's enough." Liana said. "Before this gets out of hand, can we please find out who's going with Azure to his house."

"I'll go." Sayaka said.

"Are you sure?" Azure asked.

"I've been in the car too long, besides, I'm bored as hell." Sayaka said, exiting the car. "You coming or you just going to sit there!"

"I guess there's no helping it..." Azure muttered.

"Don't worry so much, Sayaka is just a girl who probably wants your attention." Mark said, finishing a water bottle he got. Azure looked at him with a "Really?" look. "Don't look at me like that, just go, you know it's not good to keep girls waiting."

Azure rolled his eyes and chuckled a bit before getting out of the car himself. Sayaka was waiting for him impatiently by the barbed-wired fence. the two went into the two-story home, which was quite mess in the inside. Some of Them had gotten inside, but each one that was inside was either shot in the head or their face was crushed in. Azure smiled to himself as he saw this. They then proceeded to the kitchen, where Azure guessed the dead came through. The glass door was shattered and the fence in the backyard had been knocked over some how. Sayaka had found a few bullet shells on the ground and pointed some of them out to Azure.

"Looks like your dad put a good fight." Sayaka said. "Think he got out of here alive?"

"The car wasn't here, so I'm guessing he did." Azure replied. "He probably left a note somewhere, mind helping me look?"

"This is your house, not mine." Sayaka answered with attitude.

"Is that how you're always going to talk me?" Azure asked.

"Got a problem with it?" Countering his question with her own.

"Of course I do, I at least deserve some respect. And your attitude isn't going to help us get along." Azure told Sayaka. "I think the others agree with me on this matter."

"Well, you're going to have to deal with it, it's just the way I am." Sayaka said.

'_More like how you are now_...' Azure thought, knowing some kind of event might have changed her into who she is now. Azure had seen Mark like this before, and him and a few friends back then did everything they could to find out what happened to Mark and how they could help him be happy. "You remind me of an old friend of mine. Always pushing others away when you think people are getting too close."

"You saying that you can help a pushover like me since you have experience with helping another guy." Sayaka laughed. "You're more stupider than you look."

"Not gonna happen, huh..." Azure sighed. "I'm going to get some stuff out of my room, maybe my dad left me a note there." Azure went upstairs, leaving Sayaka to herself.

Sayaka took a seat in one of the chair in the kitchen, placing her spatha on table. She sighed to herself, thinking this was the first time in awhile she was alone. She looked of what was left of the glass door to the backyard. From this view, Sayaka could see the sun setting in the distance.

"Been awhile...Just me and the feeling loneliness...feels pretty nice." Sayaka said to herself.

But something was on Sayaka's mind, her father. The father who's been trying to save her from the hell of her mother and stepfather. She wondered if he was alive in this chaos, and if he was, she wanted to know where he was. Sayaka's father did all he could possibly do to try to help Sayaka get under his care. Her stepfather was really abusive, giving Sayaka many bruises and sometimes, broken bones. She was surprised she hadn't been raped like some other girls did with their stepfathers.

Sayaka twirled her finger through her wavy hair as she waited. Soon she heard footsteps coming from behind her. She sighed thinking that her time alone was going to be ruined. She decided not to care that Azure was there and just focus on herself, but when a hand was set on her shoulder, she began to feel somewhat frustrated.

"Hey, don't you-" Sayaka turned around thinking she would see the boy with the wild black and white hair, but instead she saw a dead corpse, about to take a bite out of her. "Shit!"

From out of no where, Sayaka heard a gun being shot and the corpse took a bullet through the side of its head. Sayaka shot a glance at the boy in a japanese uniform, who was holding a Makrov in one of his hands. Azure gave Sayaka a small smile as Sayaka pushed off the corpse.

"What the hell you smiling at?" Sayaka said.

"I guess I didn't really expect a thank you." Azure said, putting on a back-pack and grabbing a small cooler. "I found the note my dad left behind, I tell you what it says when we're with the others."

"What's the cooler for?" Sayaka asked, grabbing her spatha.

"You like warm drinks?" Azure said, countering her question like she did awhile ago. With that, the two headed back to the others.

In the car, Mark was in a conversation with Liana and Alex, throwing in jokes here and there. When Sayaka and Azure came back, Mark looked at Azure, who just gave him a small smile.

"So, how did it go you two?" Mark asked.

"It could have went better." Sayaka answered simply, Mark gave a confused look.

"She got attacked by one of Them." Azure said. Mark thought for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders.

"That explains the gun shot." Liana said. "At least you two are okay...Did you get what you needed, Azure?"

"Some clothes, accessories and my gun and a few clips, though my silencer was missing." Azure replied. "I also have a note that my dad left behind for me. It turns out that he's taken refuge in LA's main police station. He told me to head there. How I see this is that station might be the safest place right now considering my dad and a few neighbors went there."

"It's also a smart move. The station is filled with firearms and ammo, so we should last long if we go." Mark said, looking at Liana. "So, what's your call?"

"Uh? Why you asking me?" Liana asked.

"Your leader." Alex said, looking out the window.

"Pressure much..." Liana sighed. "Okay, after we head to our homes to get our stuff, we'll head to the police station and take shelter there. Now, let's get a move on to my house now before it gets too dark for us to make a move."

The way to Liana's house wasn't long. There was very little of Them along the way, making the group take ease. Mark had taken a short nap while other engaged into random conversations. When Mark woke up, Azure and Liana were trying to get Alex to play her guitar, but Alex still refused, still feeling a bit uncomfortable with the group. Outside, the sun was at its lowest, the bright red sky turning into a dark purple, and the moon now visible.

'_Beautiful_...' Mark thought. He then turned to the others when the car stopped in front of a light-purple house. "So, we're here, huh."

"Oh, you're awake." Liana said.

"Been for awhile."

"You're going down with me, okay?" Liana told Mark.

"Again..." Mark yawned a bit. "I bet you're doing this on purpose. I fall to sleep and when I wake up, you drag me out to of the car so we can play scavenger." Mark said jokingly.

"Stop complaining and just go." Sayaka said.

Mark and Liana got out of the car and looked at the one-story house. It looked untouched. No blood on the paint, windows intact and the garage looked like it's been unused. Mark and Liana walked up to the house, Mark still having a hard grip on the hilt of his bokken. Liana pulled out a set of keys from her pocket and unlocked the door to the house. Mark and Liana walked into an untouched living room.

"Why don't you look at that, your place still looks normal." Mark said as Liana turned on the lights.

"I don't find it a big surprise, there was nothing here to attract Them." Liana said calmly. "Alright, let's head to my room."

"Okay..." Mark said, whistling lowly after.

"What's wrong?" Liana asked. Mark just combed the back of his black hair.

"Two words: Dirty. Mind." Mark said simply. Liana just stared at him for a moment, then her rosy cheeks turned a bit more red. "Yeah..."

"Let's just get my stuff." Liana said walking into the hallway that lead to her room, Mark following behind. They walked into Liana's room. The walls to the room were painted a light-blue, and the floor was covered with a light-yellow rug. There was a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room with a light-blue blanket that matched the walls and three pillows, two light-yellow pillows behind the white one. There was a closet and a few drawers of clothes on one side of the room and on the other was a computer desk, with a laptop and a few books on top. Next to the desk was big collection of stuff toys. "Well this is my room. You can come in if you want. I probably won't take long..." Liana told Mark, who walked inside the room and notice a few stranded clothes. Liana started looking for the stuff she needed. "Sorry if it a bit messy, I was in a rush to get to school this morning."

"Hmm...I never knew you were into Victoria's Secret." Mark said, picking up a red panty and bra. Liana shot up from her crouch position and about dove over her bed and snatched her clothing from Mark's hands. Liana's face was red in embarrassment. Mark couldn't help but laugh. "Something you want to tell me?"

"M-my mom keeps getting me this stuff..." Liana said.

"Is that your excuse now?" Mark said jokingly. "I bet you're wearing a set right now."

"Alright, get out of my room." Liana said, pushing Mark out of her room. When Mark was out of the room, she closed the door before looking under her white shirt, then turning a bit more red. "That boy..." Liana took a moment for the embarrassment to wash off before continuing to look.

Liana pulled out a blue back-pack from under her bed and started putting a few clothes inside. She then proceeded into her closet and pulled out a medium-sized box. She brought the box over to her stuff toys, and then grabbed one of the teddy bears. She pulled off the removable head and brought out a key. Putting the headless teddy bear down, she inserted the key into the lock of the box and opened it. She grabbed the MPSK inside and some of the clips of ammunition and put it inside her bag.

"That was a nice SMG you had there." Mark said, startling Liana.

"Mark!" Liana yelled.

"Yeah?" Mark said, cocking his head to the left, his long bangs partially covering his left eye.

"At least make a sound when you sneak into my room! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Liana told Mark.

"Well, that would beat the point of sneaking." Mark said. "You done packing your things?"

"Just need to put in my laptop and I'm all good." Liana replied. "Can you tell what time it is?"

"Sure..." Mark pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. "It's 7:57...And I have a miss call." Mark went to his voicemail and played the message.

"Mark, it's Phil, we survived the crash." Phil said in the message. "Right now I'm on a roof to a store near a mall by the beach. I'm calling to tell you that I saw Lain and Cassie, they were in the bus we crashed into, they were in a group of seven people. They headed inside the mall. I sent two guys to go check if we could get-"

"Phillie! Shadow and the new guy just called in through the walkie-talkie! Turns out, we can't get in! They barricaded the whole place!" A female voice yelled.

"It's just Phil, Naomi." Phil said before sighing. "Well, we can't get in, but at least you know they're safe. Call me when you get the chance, we should discuss where we should meet up." The message ended there, leaving Mark in relief that his friends were alive, but he also felt stupid.

"I can't believe I forgot..." Mark muttered.

"What is it? Phil just told you that your friends are alive, didn't he? Aren't you happy?" Liana said.

"I am, but I totally forgot that Lain had a phone." Mark said with a small smile on his face. Mark then texted Lain a short message that said, "Merry Christmas". "Ready, Ana?" Liana nodded. "Then what are we waiting for."

Liana and Mark left the house, the sky darkening but the sun was just barely there. The black CR-V's headlights were now on and some lightpost were lit. Liana took her seat next to Alex and Mark went to the back of the car. Now they were back on the move again, all five agreeing that Sayaka's house would be the last stop before they ended the day. The group was a bit silent during the trip, everyone but Mark was feeling a bit drowsy. Because Mark had taken a long nap, he didn't feel tired at all.

It had not even been five minutes before Mark's phone vibrated, breaking the silence of the car. Mark, who was holding his phone in his hand expecting the call, smiled when he saw the caller's name.

"Who is that?" Azure asked.

"My favorite blond." Mark replied as he answered the call. "Hey."

"What took you so long to tell me you were alive?!" Lain yelled. Mark had a hard time figuring out whether she was joking around or not

"I'm sorry?" Mark said unsurely.

"You better be sorry, got me and Cassie worried sick." Lain said.

"Maybe she was, but I knew you and Azure were alive." Cassie's voice said.

"I'm on speaker, aren't I..." Mark sighed. '_Lain must have been joking the whole time_.' Mark thought for a moment before asking "Who else is in the room?"

"Roll call, everybody!" Mark heard Lain and a male voice say in sync.

"No, thank you." Another female voice said.

"Aw, come on, Shao Shao, just do it! Please!" Lain begged jokingly. There was a moment of silence. "Giving me the silent treatment, are you now..."

"That's enough." Said a voice that Mark was far too familiar with. "Mark, this is Rikio, I was wondering if your group would be able to meet up with ours. Right now we're at-"

"I already know where you guys are." Mark said, seriousness in his voice. Rikio was quiet for a moment. Mark could hear Lain say, "Somebody's not happy". "Don't question me on how I know, I don't feel like sharing that with you. But what I will tell you is that tomorrow we're heading to the main police station, Azure's dad left him a message to head there. Now, Lain, take the phone off speaker."

The other four were listening to the conversation that was going on. Azure slightly shook his head knowing exactly how Mark felt. Liana began to feel a bit more curious about the relationship about the two. Alex was now searching for her MP3 player, losing interest in the conversation, though she was having a bit of a hard time looking for it in the dark and didn't feel like bothering Sayaka to turn on the light inside the car. Sayaka was listening to what Mark was saying but didn't really much care, all she knew is that he was talking to Rikio and that Mark was only giving Rikio the information to where they were going was because he wanted to make sure his friends made it to a safe place.

"Am I off?" Mark asked Lain.

"Yeah, only your best friend can hear your voice now." Lain answered.

"Best friend? When did you become my best friend?" Mark laughed.

"Don't be so mean, just because Azure known you longer, doesn't mean he's your best friend! Besides, you're the one who said-"

"'You're the bestest friend a guy like me could ask for.' I didn't forget." Mark smiled to himself, knowing Lain was smiling on the other end.

"I know you're smiling, Mark." Lain said jokingly.

"How do you know that?" Mark asked, already knowing the answer he might get.

"Because, I'm your best friend." Lain said, Mark feeling the warmth of those words as he heard them. "Oh, before I forget, you said that you were going to the main police station right?"

"Yeah, I did." Mark said.

"Well, you didn't need to tell Rikio that we should head there when we're already going to head there." Lain told Mark.

"Really now? When did you guys decide on that?" Mark asked.

"It was Katsu's idea." Mark then heard a male voice, which he took to be Katsu's. Katsu seemed to be yelling something, but Mark couldn't make it out. "His name is Mark Anthony Rizuka Kuzen, Katsu! And he's not my boyfriend! He's my best friend!" Mark couldn't help but laugh. "What are you laughing at, Mister?"

"Is Katsu your new boyfriend?" Mark said, thinking the two seemed alike. Mark heard Lain giggle on the other end.

"Maybe. Why? Jealous?" Lain said.

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous when I already have a girlfriend?" Mark said, a smirk on his face.

"Girlfriend, huh? Is it that girl with long braid? You can't be cheating off J-" Lain stopped herself from continuing. "Um, let's stop there."

'_June_...' Mark sat silently, making the other four and Lain worry. Mark looked at the darkness outside the back window, looking like his mind was elsewhere. In his head, he saw a girl with short orange hair, wearing a warm smile, but her sapphire-colored eyes showed only sadness. tightening his grip around the phone, he took a deep breath. "Lain...I'll call you tomorrow."

"Oh, okay." Lain said, a bit of regret in her voice. "Um, goodnight, Mark."

"Night." Mark said, waiting for Lain to hang up. Though she didn't for a while. Mark sat there, he could hear the soft breaths of his friend. '_What is it she wants_? _Is she going to say anything_?' Mark was going to say something, but the phone suddenly began to drone off, telling Mark that the call was over. And as if there was timing in all this, the car suddenly stopped and the five were looking at a house with multiple broken windows and a few of Them were visible due to the headlights.

"Alright, let's go." Azure said, about to leave the car, but Sayaka grabbed him by his shoulder and about threw him back into his seat. "Hey, what's going on?!"

"I'm going down alone, I don't want anyone else stepping into this house." Sayaka said demandingly.

"What about Them?" Alex asked, seeing a few more of Them inside.

"I got this." Sayaka said, grabbing her spatha and jumping out of the car.

With the headlights of the car being the only light she had, Sayaka knew she would have a hard time trying to avoid Them, but she had already made up her mind. Sayaka made a dash for her home, weaving pass any of Them that reacted too slow and beheading any of Them that made a lung at her. She began to realize how tired she was because she was already breathing heavily after running the first minute. Sayaka then lunged forward and kicked the door to the house down, attracting most of Them that were inside. After taking one deep breath, Sayaka continued forward, each corpse that got in her way either had been beheaded or had their face caved in. Soon the house was cleansed of the dead and Sayaka stood above the dead, her shirt all bloodied and her spatha covered in blood.

"Stupid...Trash..." Sayaka said after each breath.

After giving herself a moment to catch her breath, Sayaka walked over to what was suppose to be her room. She grabbed a random black back-pack she had and started putting a set of clothing inside. After that, she proceeded on pulling down a wooden closet, the fall of the closet making a loud clatter and a huge mess of clothes, but Sayaka just ignored it. She put all her attention on a broken board she had put in her floor. She stomped on the board once to make a bigger hole and then pulled out a sheathed katana. The Katana's hilt was red and gold and had the name of the previous own, Hideki Kudo. Tossing the spatha onto her bed, she unsheathed the sword and swung a few times before putting it back in its sheath and strapping it over her shoulder. Grabbing her spatha, she made her way to the kitchen, grabbing a random candle from the living room. When she got to the kitchen, she pulled out one of the lighters her mother had from the cabinet and opened the oven to the stove. Turning on the stove, she lit the candle she got from the living room and placed it on the open oven door, scooting it as close as the oven as she felt comfortable. Sayaka then made a run to the living room and jumped from the couch and out the broken window. When she landed, Sayaka took a deep breath before she looked at the others in the car.

"Watch out!" Azure yelled which was then followed up by a gun fire. Sayaka heard the bullet whiz right passed her ear and meeting dead flesh. Sayaka turned to see a dead corpse collapsing to the ground, a bullet hole on the back of its head.

"What the hell, idiot!" Sayaka yelled, glancing quickly at Azure, but then realizing that it wasn't him who had made the shot. Half her body out of the back window, Alex held a Glock 1911 in her hands, her black hair swaying in the wind and the dyed purple tips almost glowing with lunar rays. Sayaka stood at the spot for a moment before sighing and walking to the driver's seat, giving Alex a small smile before she entered the car. "Alright, where to next?"

"We decided to head to a park that's near Mark place, it's big, wide and open." Liana said.

"That's dirty." Mark said. There was a moment of silence before everyone started laughing at the random joke, except for Sayaka, who just smiled and rolled her eyes. "Heh, but with all seriousness, do you know where it is? or do I have to navigate you?"

"I know which park your talking about." Sayaka said, beginning to drive. "I just can't wait to rest..."

"You said it." Liana said, wiping her eyes. "Surviving sure takes a lot out of you." As she said this, a loud explosion boomed behind them. Mark, Liana, Alex and Azure shot a look at what was suppose to be Sayaka's home. All that was left was a big fire and pieces of burning wood falling here and there. "Oh my..."

"Sayaka, you're one crazy bitch." Azure said jokingly.

"Shut up."

The trip didn't take as long as the other trips. Due to the lack of any giant horde and Sayaka's knowledge of the road, the group found themselves in the middle of a big grassy field. About everything surrounding them was visible due to the lightposts everywhere. The group stayed in the safety of the car, each falling slowly into slumber. Who was left awake were Mark and Liana.

"Still awake?" Mark asked Liana as he checked on her as she squirmed around a bit, trying to get some place from Alex, who had taken up the rest of the back seats.

"Yeah, and a bit uncomfortable." Liana said. Mark then gestured her to come over to the trunk with him. Liana nodded and climbed over the sleeping Alex. "Know don't go thinking dirty things just because we're the only two awake."

"Look at you, talking to me like you've known me for years." Mark said, ruffling Liana' hair. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Liana asked, fixing her hair a bit.

"Your hair isn't in a braid." Mark said, cocking his head a bit, examining her new appearance. "You look cute, including with the effect the moonlight does to your eyes."

"Eh? What are you talking about?" Liana asked.

"Those icy-blue eyes of your have a nice glittering touch with moonlight."

"Oh..." Liana looked away from Mark for a moment, hiding the redness of her cheeks. She heard Mark sigh and glanced a peek at him. He was laying back on the back of the seats behind him, his right leg bent and his left extended, arms crossed, and his greyish-blue eyes looking at the visible night sky.

"Beautiful, isn't..." Mark said, Liana was a little surprised to hear a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Is something bothering you?" Liana asked. Mark looked at her from the corner of his eye before putting a weak smile on his face.

"Just things that already passed." Mark replied.

"Care to talk about?"

"It's something I'm not really fond of talking about..." Mark told her.

"That just means you need to talk about it." Liana countered. Mark laughed a bit after hearing her talk.

"Ana, you remind me of a girl I once knew." Mark closed his eyes and shook his head slightly before sighing. "Fine, but I'm just going to tell you this once, not in full detail though."

"Alright." Liana said reached over to her bag that Alex was lying by and pulled out the teddy bear she brought along. "Okay, I'm ready."

"What is this? Story time?" Mark chuckled, this made Azure move a bit in his sleep.

"Shh, don't mind and tell me what's bothering you." Liana told Mark.

'_ ?_..." Mark just smiled before beginning. "You know that big fight that took place two years ago?"

"Yeah, a group of student you and a guy from Skyline lead went up against the whole Student Council and their supporters." Mark was kinda surprised she knew that he lead the group along with Phil, but he guessed that about all of Primestone knew.

"Do you know what we rebelled about and how the fight started?" Mark continued to ask.

"No." Liana lied, trying to get him to tell her what happened instead of him just asking questions. "Why don't you tell me."

"Like I told you before, I'll tell you what I feel comfortable, so don't expect much." Mark said. "There was this girl, her name was June, June Sikira." Mark paused a moment as a flash of memories ran through his head. Sighing, he continued. "June was accused of murdering three adults, the former principal of Primestone and two teachers. Why we rebelled? The answer is about obvious, we knew June was innocent."

"How did you know she was innocent?" Liana asked. Mark was silent, the expression on his face hid what he was feeling really well.

"I just knew, let's leave it at that." Mark said, rubbing the back of his head. "Anyhow, Phil, the guy from Skyline High, and I lead the group, we planned and executed the moves we made, from boycotts to even violence, if the situation called for it."

"So you beat people up?" Liana asked, an expression of worry on her face.

"We did everything we could before we resorted to violence." Mark informed her. "We had a good amount of people. Azure, Lain, Cassie and even Alex were on my side, though I hardly knew Alex, she was just Cassie's friend. My club was on my side, well almost all of my club, and a lot of people I trusted or knew I could trust."

"What about Phil...Angelo I think it was?" Liana said.

"Phil...Phil and I have history and he was also a close friend to June." Mark told her. "Now, onto the day of the great fight. As you might have heard, I was the one to throw the fight punch, I was provoked and I couldn't take it anymore, so I just broke. Phil could have stopped me, but what was last said about June made us both want to take down the Council." Mark paused again as more memories washed in a like a wave. "I'm not going to tell you all the gruesome details, but what I will the tell you the results. I was hospitalized after the fight, I had taken a bad injury. While I was, Phil took down the group and the State Court let the case go, but not without some sort of punishment. June...June was sent to Alaska for the State felt like it would have been better that way..." A tear slowly slipped from Mark's eyes. "And me...I was given a months worth of suspension." There was silence as Mark paused once more. "You know, I felt like I should have been sent to Alaska, that way June wouldn't have to move away from the friends she had here...I just feel like it was all my fault-" That's when Mark heard the soft breathing of Liana. Mark glanced over at her and smiled as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "Sleepy-head..."

Mark gave the sleeping girl some space as he crawled over to open the trunk. As he opened the trunk, Mark noticed Liana curl up into the fetal position, looking like she was trying to cuddle the teddy bear in her arms for warmth. Mark smiled weakly before taking off his jacket and putting it comfortably over Liana's body, making it like a blanket. Grabbing his bokken, he slipped outside and quietly closed the trunk. He then took a glance towards the moon and stars, sighing as he did.

"So, June, if you're out there...Alive...Are you still looking at the same beautiful night sky like you promised you would on a full moon..." Mark said. He then laughed a bit after. "Great, now I'm muttering to myself." Mark took a look at the dark grassy field ahead of him and the turn that was many yards away that would lead to the street he lived on.

"Tonight, I make my move...as the Lone Wolf..."

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**A/N: Alright, that's done, and by the deadline a chose too. I hoped you enjoyed reading this chapter because I enjoyed writing it. Now, like always, let's do a short review. Since it's just Group 1, I'll review only them.**_

_**We have gotten a bit deeper into each characters past, slowly but surely. We have even gotten a small piece of different information about the Great Fight that took place at Primestone.**_

_**Now we have clarified about three new pieces to the game of survival, Phil Angel, Shadow Shan and Naomi Thompson (Yeah, I didn't mention the last twos' last names during the chapter but I just felt like putting them there...It felt empty without them). And that leave the fourth character a mystery. Who is this new guy who claims to be an old friend of Mark.**_

_**Lastly, Does Mark really plan on going alone into what could lead to his death? I don't know...Maybe...Yes? Yeah, I'm not saying anything...***_Random person* = t-.-t


	9. E1: Under the Night Sky

_**Episode 1: Under the Night Sky**_

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Lain yelled, causing the others to glance over at her.

Lain had just got done talking to Mark, and with the way the call ended, Lain felt like she had left Mark a little wounded by bringing up June, Mark's old girlfriend. Cassie walked over to her tri-colored haired friend to see what she fussing on about.

"What's with the yelling, Lain?" Cassie asked. Lain looked at Cassie was an expression that said "What do you think?!". "Let me rephrase my question. What did you say to Mark that made him hang up?"

"He didn't hang up on me, I hung up on him." Lain said, though she thought about what she said and decided to rephrase it after Cassie gave her a certain look. "I accidentally brought up Junie-Bird and now Mar-Mar probably feels hurt and it's all my fault. Mar-Mar waited for me to hang up for long time, but I didn't say anything and I think he's mad at me!"

"We both know that Mark doesn't really hold grudges unless you pull something really stupid to get on his bad side completely." Cassie said. "And where do you go off calling June and Mark by nicknames? Did you catch something from Katsu?"

"But it seemed so fun to call people by their nicknames..." Lain said, making a bit of a pouty face. "But that's not the point right now...What I need is something that'll cheer me up..."

"You haven't made a trap in awhile, I'm surprised you haven't gone mad." Cassie joked. Then she noticed a gleam in Lain's eyes.

"You're a genius, Cass, a trap would be perfect! And I have one in mind, a great one to be exact!" Lain grabbed Cassie's hand and started to run. "Let's go, Cassie, we need to get some material!"

'_This girl cheers up faster than anyone I know_.' Cassie thought.

As Cassie and Lain went through the mall, Rikio and the others were now on the second floor, planning how they were going to get out of the mall and to the main police station. They already decided that they'd move out when morning comes but that was all.

"We need to move by morning, that's a definite, but we can't just go out there without knowing what we're going to do." Rikio said, looking out the giant window. It was dark outside, but the light from inside the mall made the streets visible. "There are still a lot of Them outside, so we can't risk going out there."

"Not like we can though, the place is well boarded up and if we try to make an exit, the noise will be sure to attract a lot of Them." Satoshi said, sitting on a bench, resting against the railing behind him.

"You guys think too much, we should just straight up run for it, I mean the police station isn't as far as you think." Katsu said, sitting on the railings, combing his hand through his short, spiky black hair.

"You're not thinking enough. The streets are filled with walking dead and to attempt to get to the police station on foot would be next to suicide." Hoshiko told Katsu, who was sitting on the same bench as Satoshi. "We need a car or two, driving would be the safest way."

"Maybe there are able cars out there." Shao pointed out as she rested against a section of the wall, twirling her fingers on the red streaked side of her black hair, her red eyes resting on the bus that was outside and the white hummer that had hit the bus. "Maybe that hummer works..."

"What're you saying, Red?" Katsu asked. "Can't understand ya when you mutter all the time." Shao pointed over to the hummer outside. "What about it?"

"Maybe it works..." Shao said.

Rikio looked at the white hummer, the same car that had hit them when they were in the bus. It was surrounded by a few of Them, making it look like they had a chance to get to it, but Rikio knew that killing off the corpses there would attract more of Them that were possibly in the shadows. And even if they waited for morning to come and check on it then, there was a chance that the car may not function and the noise of taking down the barricades would attract any of Them near the area.

"We shouldn't go risking it." Hoshiko said.

"Why not?" Satoshi asked.

"It's too dark to be certain that there are only that much of Them out there." Rikio said. "We might have to wait until morning and see what the conditions are then."

"Waiting is a waste of time, ya know." Katsu said plainly.

"Katsu has a point." Shao said.

"Well do you want to go out there then?" Hoshiko asked, expecting them to stop.

"I thought you'd never ask." Katsu said, jumping off the railing and in front of Rikio. "I'm going to head out there and see if that car works." Katsu told Rikio, grabbing hold of his nail'd bat.

"And how are you goin-" Rikio began before Katsu ran passed him, breaking the window and falling from the second floor onto a random car. "Reckless..."

"Idiot, what were you thinking?!" Hoshiko yelled at Katsu, who was wiping off some shattered glass.

"I wasn't!" Katsu yelled back.

"Are you okay?! That was about a 15-feet drop!" Satoshi said.

"Really? Didn't feel like it." Katsu replied while jumping off the car, tightening the grip around his bat as he noticed one of Them lunging at him. "Out of the way, lamebrain! I got a car to check!"

Katsu smiled as he saw a few more of Them coming his way. He adjusted his blue polarized goggles a bit due to him thinking it felt a bit weird before going into a run. Though the car wasn't far from him, the number of corpses in his way made it so that he had to either kill or maneuver them, though he mostly chose to kill or he maneuvered first, then kill second. Soon enough, the fearless Katsu had made it to the white hummer, nothing dead in his way. Katsu chuckled at his achievement and went to go open the door to the driver's seat, but he then felt cold metal on the back of his neck, making Katsu freeze.

"What do you think you're doing?" said a male voice, Katsu turned his head to get a look at who was talking to him. It was a boy with black hair that went down to his shoulders with bangs that framed his face and one bang between his different colored eyes. His left eye was a dark-green while his right was a golden-yellow. The boy's white skin glowed in the moonlight. He was wearing a blue zip-up hoodie that was zipped up half way, revealing the white bloodied shirt inside, he also had on black jeans, green shoes and black fingerless combat gloves. In his hands was a black Bo Staff with metal ends.

"Well, Bo-man, I was just planning on seeing if this hummer here can be of use." Katsu replied calmly.

"It's Kazue, kid, Kazue Baronage." Kazue introduced himself. "And that hummer there is ours, we got the keys to it." Kazue showed Katsu the key that went to the hummer. Katsu remained silent. "So quiet for a guy who looked like he was enjoying himself earlier."

"Do you really have to do this, Kazue?" Another male voice said. Katsu glanced over at the boy with snow-white hair that went past his ears and was spiky in some place. The boy looked like he had black eyes, but when Katsu examined them longer, he saw that they were brown. The boy had a lean body with pale white skin, also giving off the glowing effect due to the moonlight. He was wearing a black shirt and black jeans with a pistol holster around his right leg. In the holster was a Glock 17.

"Don't ruin the moment, Shadow." Kazue said.

"Yo, Snowflake, tell Bo-man to put his weapon down before I decide to knock his ass to next week." Katsu said, a strange mix of sarcasm and seriousness in his voice.

"Why you!" Kazue said, gritting his teeth. "You really want to go there-" Katsu spun kicked Kazue across the face, knocking Kazue to the ground.

"Yeah, I just went there." Katsu said, throwing down his bat and then fixing the collar to his black blazer. Katsu chuckle a bit before gesturing Kazue to "bring it".

"Looks like we got a badass on our hands." Kazue said, getting up after setting his bo staff down.

"What do you mean we? I'm taking no part in-" Shadow began.

"Falcon Kick!" Katsu yelled as he lunging a kick to the face on Shadow. Shadow staggered back, wincing a bit over the pain.

"Okay, now your asking for it." Shadow said, glaring down Katsu, who only smiled.

"I can take on the both of ya without a problem. So come at me at once if you want." Katsu told them.

"Someone's a bit cocky..." Kazue muttered before charging at Katsu.

Kazue threw a hard left at Katsu, but Katsu dodged easily and went to uppercut. Kazue saw the attack coming and leaned back to dodge and with the momentum, gave Katsu an unexpected headbutt, making Katsu fly back into the side of the hummer. Sucking up the pain, Katsu tried to get on his feet, but Shadow grabbed him by his arm. Shadow then brought Katsu over his shoulders and slammed him onto the ground, about knocking the breath out of Katsu. Shadow gave a quick look at Kazue and they both nodded. Shadow put Katsu on his feet and kicked him forward as Kazue went in for a clothesline, but this time, Katsu was ready. Katsu quickly maneuvered around Kazue, making Kazue miss and almost lose balance due to the fact he had put about all his weight into the attack. As Kazue turned around to face Katsu, Katsu took advantage of the moment and kicked Kazue square on the chest, sending Kazue to the ground. With the force from the kick, Katsu used it to rebound to Shadow and knee him under his chin, sending Shadow back into a car.

"That all you two got?" Katsu said, taking off his blazer and throwing on top of the hummer. He then unbuttoned his dress shirt and folded up the sleeves to his elbows.

"Just getting started!" Kazue said after getting back on his feet. he prepared to throw a hard punch, but as soon as he was a foot away from Katsu, someone punched him from the side, making Kazue stagger to the side. "Who the hell-"

Standing next to Katsu was a girl with black hair that had red streaks on the left side, wearing the blank tank-top she had under her red shirt. Shao gave small smile as the other three took notice of her.

"Nice, Red." Katsu complimented.

"Who brought the chick?" Kazue said jokingly but still wore a serious face.

"I got tired of watching." Shao replied. "Besides, look around you." The boys scanned the area around them and they were surprised to see that there was a bunch of Them surrounding them. Katsu looked over at Shao, who only shrugged. "We tried to warn you..."

"I'm not gonna complain about this, just wondering if you got yourself." Katsu said, a big smile on his face. Shao answered by firing a M9 pistol that the boys failed to notice. "You came packed, huh. Get that from the gun shop?" Shao was silent for a moment.

"No, I had it ever since we were at the school." Shao paused. "Unfortunately, I forgot my other weapons, so-"

"Don't worry about it, you can count on me to have your back." Katsu laughed as he picked up the black bo staff on the ground. "Hey, Bo-man, you dropped this!" Katsu said, tossing the staff to Kazue. Kazue nodded and picked up Katsu's bat and tossing over to him.

"Looks like we're in this mess together." Shadow said.

"Hey, Goggle Boy, I didn't catch your name." Kazue said, twirling the bo staff behind his back.

"Names Katsu Tokoroshi, Bo-man, don't forget it!" Katsu told him and he focused his eyes on the dead that were slowly limping their way to them, slowly making the circle around the four smaller.

"What about you, Beautiful?" Kazue asked Shao, who closed her eyes for a few seconds before sighing.

"I'm Shao." Shao said simply, firing a second time in unison with Shadow's Glock.

"I'm Kazue and this is Shadow." Kazue told her, preparing to start attacking. He then glanced over at Katsu, who directly behind him. "Ready?"

"More than I'd ever be." Katsu said as both of them charged at the dead in separate directions, both taking out a corpse with one swift move. After this, the large group around the four began to move faster.

"You'd think the gun fire would have made them move this quick." Shadow said, covering Kazue from a distance.

"Doesn't matter now, just focus." Kazue told Shadow as he knocked five of Them down, though only killing three.

"I think you need to hit'em a bit harder, They keep getting up on your end!" Katsu yelled as he did a hard upward swing, beheading his target. With the momentum of the first swing, Katsu went for a second swing, hitting one of Them across the face with much force that it was sent backwards into a couple more corpses. "Domino effect, bitch! 10 points for me!" Katsu yelled as he whipped off the blood on his bat.

"I'm out." Shao said after shooting the last bullet in her clip.

"Need me to cover you while you reload?" Shadow asked as he looked at the girl behind him.

"Just watch yourself." Shao gestured Shadow to look in front of him. Shadow looked and saw one of Them quickly moving at him. He went to fire, but when he pulled the trigger, the gun only clicked.

"Shit..." Behind him, Shao threw a clip into air and quickly removed the one in her gun. She then let the full clip fall into its place in the gun, swiftly cocking the gun after and firing a single bullet at the corpse that was coming at Shadow. The bullet went all the way through the corpse's head and killing another one. "Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Thanks."

"No problem." Shao said with a smile, returning to covering Katsu, who had just finished bashing in his prey's head.

After a two minutes, Kazue had just taken down three of Them before looking around to see how many were left. There were still a lot of Them and Their numbers kept growing. Kazue looked back at the other three. Shao and Shadow were now fending off the dead that Katsu nor Kazue could get to. Katsu was backing off for the moment, quickly catching his breath. His white dress shirt was now cover with blood here and there.

'_Damn, we won't last long if this keeps up, we're going to have to use the hummer_.' Kazue thought as he set his eyes on his destination. The hummer was now surrounded by the walking dead. "Shadow, cover me!" Shadow nodded, and Kazue made a run for the hummer that was now surrounded by the dead. Kazue knocked as of Them over as possible, trying to get as close to the car as possible. He looked back to see that most of the corpses he knocked over wear getting up. '_No way of going back now_.' Kazue looked back ahead of him and smiled. He rose his bo staff over his head, and when he got a bit closer, he used it to get himself over the dead that were in his way and land on top of the car. He laughed a bit as the dead tried to reach for him. "Try all you want, but I don't plan on being dinner!" He smiled before turning around to the open sunroof. "I knew we left it open." Kazue got inside the car and placed himself on the driver's seat. "Alright, now I need that-Huh? Where's the key?" That's when Kazue heard thud on the roof of the car. "Crap, did those Things get on?!"

"No, just me." Katsu said, popping his head in Kazue's view.

"How did you get pass those freaks?" Kazue asked.

"I'm the best zombie killer in the country, friend, there nothing I can't pull." Katsu told him. "Hmm, my blazer's gone...but that doesn't matter, I came here to give you this." Katsu handed Kazue the key to the car.

"How-"

"Not now, Bo-man, Red and Snowflake are in trouble!" Katsu told Kazue as he jumped off the car, wasting no time to get to the other two.

"One of the craziest guys I've met since I got here." Kazue muttered as he started up the car. He looked around him, seeing the dead that surrounded him. "I can still push through…I hope."

Kazue put the car into reverse and about stomped on the pedal. The hummer quickly reversed, running over most of the dead behind it, blood staining the white of the car. Kazue then quickly shifted the car out of reverse and sped through the crowd of corpses, the smell of burnt rubber reaching his nose, and he reached the other three who were now struggling. Shao and Shadow were reaching the last of their ammo, making Katsu the only capable fighter for he would be the only one with a weapon. But just Katsu wouldn't be enough to survive the now horde of dead surrounding them.

"Hurry, get in!" Kazue yelled as he rolled down his window a bit. The others nodded and made a run for the back seats. As the three all got into the car, Shao went to close the door, but two of Them made in time to prevent her from doing so. "Damn it!" Kazue yelled as the two lunged at Shao.

"Hold on!" Shadow shot two quick shots at Them, hitting one in the head and the other on its shoulder. Shadow went to shoot again, but the gun only clicked. "At times like this..."

"You're not taking me!" Shao said, giving the corpse a hard kick to its face. The corpse stumbled back, giving Shao enough time to close the door. "Go!"

Kazue hit the gas and the car sped forward, almost out of uncontrollably. Trying to get the hummer back into control as he took out a big number of Them. When he finally got it into control, he had blindly crashed into a broken down car. Not wearing any seat-belts, the four were forced forward due to the impact. Kazue hit face first into the steering wheel, in the back, Shao and Katsu hit the front seats and Shadow was about to lung pass the middle of the passenger and driver's seat, but Katsu was able to grab his black shirt and pull him back as he forced himself back. The car was still in fine condition, and so was everyone else, except for the driver. Kazue was unconscious after hitting his head.

"Crap, he's out." Shadow said, holding his hand against his head for it ached a bit from being whipped forward and back. "Kazue, get up!" Kazue groaned a bit, but his eyes remained closed. "Kazue!" Shadow yelled as the dead began banging on the windows.

"Here, this'll wake him up." Katsu said, raising his bat as high as he could in the car. Shadow gave him a look that said "Don't even try". Katsu laughed a bit before lowering his weapon. "No worries, man, I was just kidding. But Bo-man better get up soon, I don't want to become a chew toy." As Katsu finished his sentence, there was a loud explosion coming from outside. Then another, and another. The explosion eventually woke up Kazue. Groaning, he looked outside.

"What the hell is going on?" Kazue asked as he witnessed the fourth explosion, this one was closer than the others.

"An good time to drive me and Katsu to that broken window at the mall." Shao said, looking at the three figures that stood there, unable to help the four.

"You want to go back?" Shadow asked. "It's much safer where we are, and there are two other people with us."

"We owe it to them that we're still alive." Shao told him simply.

"Just hold on, Prez! We're coming!" Katsu yelled as he stood through the sunroof.

"I see...Kazue." Kazue nodded and drove through dead corpse after dead corpse. They found themselves under the broken window. There, Rikio looked down on Shao and Katsu as they got through the sunroof.

"It's good to see you two are safe." Rikio said, a smile on his face.

"It was nice of you to throw those explosives. I mean, where did you find them?! And why didn't tell me about it?!" Katsu said, looking at the window that was about 10-feet high.

"That wasn't us, someone out there must be helping us." Rikio told the two, looking off into the dark of night. "It's nice to know that there are still people out there who are trying to help."

"Well, I guess in doesn't matter, but still..." Katsu turned and scanned around the building roofs before yelling. "Who ever you are, thanks!" With that, Katsu turned back to the wall and began scaling it, just barely reaching the ledge of the window. When he pulled himself up, he looked down at Shao. "Ready, Red?" Shao nodded, then Katsu hung himself upside-down, arms extended to help Shao, his feet were set on the ledge of the window making sure he doesn't fall. Before Shao grabbed Katsu arms, she felt a tap on her ankle.

"What is it?" She asked as she looked down at the white-haired boy in the car. Shadow showed her a key that looked like it belonged to a car.

"This goes to a blue van just on that turn over." Shadow pointed to a turn to his right. "It still works and there's enough space to get it moving. The group we're in will make sure that the street is safe before we leave." Shadow then tossed the keys to Shao.

"Thank you." Shao said before turning back to Katsu and taking his hands. Rikio, Satoshi and Hoshiko pulled the two up. Once up, they heard the car start driving away. Shao showed Rikio the key she received. "We have our car now."

"Great, at least we have a vehicle to use to get to the police station." Rikio said as Shao gave him the key.

"Those boys, weren't they the same two that you and Hoshiko saw?" Satoshi asked.

"I believe so. I'm a bit surprised that they were still alive, and that they gave us a car to use." Rikio looked over at the two girls walking over to the group. "Good, you both came, I was just about to say that we needed to discuss some things again." Cassie looked from him to Katsu and his bloodied dress shirt. Then just looked in curiosity as she licked away on her vanilla ice cream she had made during her trip around the mall.

"We heard the explosion and wondered what was going on." Cassie told Rikio. "What exactly happened? And why is Shao and Katsu have blood stained on their clothes?"

"Long story…" Katsu said.

Katsu, Shao and the ones who witnessed what happened began to explain what happen while Cassie and Lain had gone around the mall. Cassie didn't show any expression of surprise, and Lain looked like she was way into the event being told. When all the explaining was done, Lain and Cassie looked like they were in deep thought.

"What is it you two?" Hoshiko asked, curious of what was on their mind.

"The name Kazue, it sounds a bit familiar." Cassie said. "Though I never met a guy with hetrochromia iridium. What about you, Lain?"

"Nada." Lain shook her head, her tri-colored hair swaying as she did. "So, what now? We gonna leave tonight?"

"No, there is still quite a lot of Them out there, and besides. we need our rest." Rikio. "We'll wait for morning to come and see if it's more safer. If not, we'll wait another night." Lain laughed at this. "What's so funny?"

"We don't need to wait another day for those Things to move out of here." Lain said, everyone but Cassie gave Lain a confused look. "You'll see tomorrow on what I'm talking about." Lain yawned, she brought out her phone and looked at the time. "It's just 9:00, but I feel so tired. Must have been working too long. Plus, trying to survive takes up a lot of energy, you know." Lain began rubbing her eyes.

"She has a point." Hoshiko said. "We should get some rest so we're all refreshed for tomorrow."

"If we're going to sleep, I need to change my clothes. Don't want to be all sticky from the blood." Katsu said, unbuttoning his dress shirt all the way, his bare chest more visible. Lain whistled as he took off his shirt. "Yeah, take it in, this time is free, but next time-"

"Just get out of here." Shao said.

Katsu went to the clothing section of the mall, he was follow by Satoshi and Rikio, leaving the girls to themselves. When Katsu found the store he was looking for, he quickly scavenged out what he wanted. Rikio and Satoshi found some interest in some of the clothing and started picking out clothing themselves. Before Katsu went to go change out, Satoshi decided to try to start a conversation with him, practicing on upping his confidence.

"Katsu, you did a really great job out there, I was really impressed." Satoshi said, catching Katsu attention. "I guess you do live up to your family name, even though you're quite the troublemaker."

"Thanks for the praise." Katsu laughed. "Oh, how do you know my old man?"

"I believe I mentioned I worked in the same station before, so I take the orders from him." Satoshi answered. "So I know some stuff about you, like that stunt you pulled yesterday. Though I don't think of it as bad, I could see why you did it."

"Heh, so you know of my great handywork, huh." Katsu smiled.

"What exactly did you do? If you don't mind me asking." Rikio asked for he was quite curious of what might have happened.

"Katsu here decided to start something with the law." Satoshi started, which surprised Rikio. "He decided to shoot a working officer's car with a full automatic paintball gun. From there, he began to get chased by the police, running off into the rooftops of LA, pulling a bunch of parkour here and there, leading the officers in a four hour pursuit. Eventually, we caught him, and put him behind bars. You'd think his father would have done something about, like bail him out, but he didn't his father. His older sister, Ayumi, got him out. What I heard after he was bailed out is that the Sheriff went to go talk to you." Satoshi was now looking at Katsu. "But you've already slipped out of the house."

"So the old man did come, did he. At least I got what I wanted." Katsu said.

"And what would that be exactly?" Rikio asked.

"His father's attention."

"Alright, that's enough talking about me." Katsu said. "I just wan't to catch some z's, man. Not talk about my personal life."

* * *

It was now 9:30, the girls were able to find a good dark room that they felt comfortable sleeping in, the mattress store. Out of the four girls, Lain sat awake, her tired eyes on the glowing screen of her phone. She had been debating on calling Mark, but was a little nervous because he might not want to talk to her. After the first five minutes, she got tired of just arguing with herself. She looked at her screen and took in what it looked like before she closed her eyes.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." She began the old nursery rhyme as her thumb hovered over her phone's touchscreen. "Catch a reindeer by the toe. If she hollers, let her go. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." With she randomly tapped the screen. There was a moment of silence, which kinda releived Lain, but then came the soft ringing of her phone. Opening her eyes, she blew air into her bangs before sighing. "I should have peeked...Maybe he won't-"

"Lain..." Came a male voice from the phone. Lain about jumped from her spot, but didn't want to wake the others. She moved herself a bit farther away from the girls before answering Mark.

"Hi, MAK, how you doing?" Lain said with a cheerful voice while trying out a new nickname.

"MAK?"

"It's a nickname I made for you." Lain said.

"What'd you do? Take the 'R' out of my name?" Mark laughed.

"No, stupid, I used the initials of your name to create it, M for Mark, A for Anthony and K for Kuzen. I'd expect you to know your own name." Lain told Mark.

"Yeah, I do. And last time I checked, my middle name was Rizuka, so if you put that together, you get MARK." Mark replied.

"Hey, stop ruining the name for me, I took a lot of time creating it!" Lain said.

"I like it."

"Huh?"

"You heard me, I like the name." Mark said.

"You better." Lain said, making a bit of a pouting face.

"I know your pouting, Lain. I can imagine it through the way you talk." Mark said.

"Then stop smirking to yourself and maybe I'll stop." Lain said. "I'm your best friend, I can know what you look like and what you're doing even though I can't see you."

"I know." Mark replied. "Now, what'd you call about?"

"Oh, um, I just wanted to chat, you know." Lain said. Then I weird feeling washed over her. she couldn't explain what it was, but it didn't feel right. "Mark..."

"Yes?"

"What ever you're doing, promise me that you'll make it through it alive, okay?" Lain said, unconsciously using a sweet and concerned voice. It took her a moment to realize what she just said, and she began to try to say something else that might make Mark forget about it. "M-"

"I promise." Mark said, a bit of seriousness in his voice and a little hint of sadness. Though why there was sadness in his voice only mystified Lain. "But, you have to promise me that you'll stay safe and that I'll see you when we meet you at the station, got it?" Lain was silent for a moment before answering.

"I promise." Lain said with a smile.

"Now I got to go. I'll see ya when I see ya." Mark said, now waiting for her to say what she needed to say.

"Bye and good luck out there!" Lain said cheerfully. The two then waited to see who'd hang up first. It took a moment, but Mark hung up, giving out a soft laugh before he did so.

Lain looked at the phone for a moment before realizing how tired she was really getting. Yawning, she made her way back to the other three, going back onto the mattress she picked out and laid there, waiting for the dreamscape to take her.

'_At least now, I feel like I can rest easy_...'

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**A/N: Now that didn't take as long for me to write as I usually do. I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Oh, I apologize if there are any mistakes, I got to excited to update before proofreading it *Rubs the back of my head*. Well, I've been writing this for awhile so you guys should now what's next, right? REVIEW TIME!**_

_**Alright, we have now discovered the mystery boy's name, Kazue Baronage, leaving us to conclude that since the chapter stated that Kazue and Shadow were in a four-man group, that group is consisted of Phil Angelo, Naomi Thompson, Kazue Baronage and Shadow Shan. But the question is, when will they show up and help the group?**_

_**Now we have the explosions that appeared. They were obviously detonated to help the the four that were in the hummer. But the another question remains to who was this person or people who helped them?**_

_**Now I believe that's all to sum up now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. But just to let you all know, if you're going to attempt to try and get some part of the plot that hasn't been revealed yet, you're going to have a hard time.**_

_**Well, 'til next time. **__**Keeper of Armageddon. (Heh, new pen name)**_


	10. E1: Is This the End?

_**Episode 1: Is This the End?!**_

A boy found himself in a hospital after coming to. An aching pain was in his left shoulder as he tried to use it. Wincing, the boy looked around the hospital room, sighing as he knew which hospital he was in. The boy moved his more able arm, and moved his long bangs off his left eye. He felt a cold breeze come over his body, making him realize that he wasn't wearing a shirt, only in the dark-blue jeans he wore during the big fight at Primestone, there was also a bandage wrapped around his left shoulder. He went to get up from his bed, but the door to the room opened and before he knew it, a girl with shoulder-length orange hair with medium length bangs pushed him down against the bed, a surge of pain ran up his left shoulder, but he didn't want to let the girl know he was in pain as he felt tears drip on his chest, where the girl's head rested.

"June..." the black haired boy said. "What's wrong?" June was silent, which worried the boy. "Hey, come one, speak to me."

"It's over, Mark. I couldn't take it anymore, so I ended it." June told Mark. Mark eyes grew wide as he realized what his girlfriend was saying. "I-I'm sorry...After seeing you like you were, I broke-" Mark began to try to get up, so June got off him. Her sapphire eyes looked away from his greyish-blue. Mark's eyes were filled with frustration.

"God dammit!" Mark yelled as he punched the bed he lied in, making June flinch. "Do you realize what you've done, June?! You know where they'll send you, right?!"

"They're not sending me to prison..." June muttered. Mark waited impatiently for her to go on. "They're sending me to Alaska, Mark."

"Alaska...Alaska?! Why the hell are they sending you so damn far from home?!" Mark yelled, trying not to think of the thought of June leaving. "That's it, I going to the State Court and telling them the whole truth!" Mark got up from his bed and tried to walk to the door, but June wrapped her arms around him, making him stop in his place. "Please...Please don't stop me." Mark said in a softer voice

"Don't tell them! Please!" June cried out to him.

"Why? Why shouldn't I just turn myself in for you? Don't you understand, I'm doing this for you, I'm just trying to be more selfless like you and Phil." Mark told her.

"I don't want you to be alone again!" June yelled through tears. Mark eyes widen by what he was hearing. "If you tell them to send you away in my place, you'll be all alone again, and you'll go back to that depressed state again."

"You don't-"

"Yes, I do! I do know that when you leave, you'll start blaming yourself for everything. You won't laugh, smile or do anything that'll make you happy, all you'll want is solitude. I seen it with my own eyes. To think of you like that, it breaks my heart." June said. Mark went to say something, but June continued. "I know you want to act selfless, but you're not mentally ready for something like..." Her voice dropped, realizing that she was making Mark more frustrated.

"Not ready, huh..."

"I didn't mean it like that." June said.

Mark sighed before sitting down, trying to keep a level-head. "I...I know what you mean, don't worry." Mark sat for a moment and thought. He put his hand on his left shoulder, as if an answer for this situation would pop into his head if you did. "What about the group?"

"Phil already took the group down. Some thought against it, but Phil was able to convince them." June replied

Mark thought longer, anger rising in himself. He gritted his teeth and threw a hard punch at the nearest wall with his right hand. There was a commotion on the other side of the wall, but Mark didn't care, he had to take his anger out on something. His knuckles bleeding a bit, he lied back down on his bed. "So, it's all over, huh..."

From this point, everything turned black.

...

Mark opened his eyes to a hardly lit living room. He was lying on a couch, the only clothing he had on was his dark-blue faded jeans and the grey boxers he had on. On the table was his ripped and stained white shirt and a broken bokken. Outside, Mark could hear the low moaning and slow steps of the dead. But that didn't bother the black haired boy, the dream...or more like memory that replayed itself in his sleep is what bothered him. The memory was part of the conversation he had with June Sikira on the day he woke in the hospital his mother worked in. Mark ran his hand through the back of his head, as if his hair might have grown back to it's length back then, then feeling stupid that he did so.

"Had longer hair back then..." Mark muttered to himself, imagining his hair a bit more longer than it already was and having a low ponytail and longer bangs that almost covered his left eye completely. He laughed a bit while shaking his head. "Now is not the time to think about hairstyles...Now, what the hell happened last night..."

_**Flashback...**_

Mark walked down the empty field, though staying aware of his surroundings, trying to see if there was any sign of Them ahead. Mark could faintly hear there low moaning from the distance he was at. He began to question against his decision, thinking of going to his home alone was a terrible idea. But he was able to convince himself out of doubt. He didn't want to the others to risk themselves. Mark felt the cold breeze blow against his open skin, though the cold did not bother the boy for he had had worst in his younger ages in Alaska.

Soon enough, Mark reach the street that would lead to his. His grip around the bokken tightened as a few of Them came into view. Knowing there were probably more of Them, Mark started at a slow and silent walk, taking out any of the dead with one silent and swift move. It took some time for Mark to finish off the small group before he proceeded on to the street ahead, the street he lived on. When it came into full view, the lightposts to the street were blinking on and off at random time, and the street was filled with the dead like the time when they first came here around the afternoon.

Mark sighed at his luck. He was about to take a step forward, but he felt his phone vibrate in his backpocket. The forward step turned into a leap back. Mark made his way behind one of the fences nearby and pulled out his phone. On the screen was a year old picture of a blond girl and himself when he had his hair in a low ponytail. The blond girl had shoulder length hair back then with short bangs, and her hair was just a normal blond, no sign of the red or green she has now. One of the girl's arms was around his shoulder, pulling him closer to her, her eyes were closed a bit and a big smile on her face, giving off a hint of her laughing, and both her hands were pulling on his cheeks, trying to get the mellow boy to smile. Mark chuckled at the picture before answering the call that was coming through.

"Lain..." Mark said loud enough for Lain to hear, but quiet enough to not attract Them to him.

Lain didn't exactly answer, but Mark knew she was there because he could hear her walking. Soon the walking stopped and Lain finally answered. "Hi, MAK, how you doing?" Lain said in a cheerful voice.

"MAK?" Mark said, cocking his head a bit.

"It's a nickname I made for you." Lain said, making Mark shake his head.

"What'd you do? Take the 'R' out of my name?" Mark said, laughing a bit.

"No, stupid, I used the initials of your name to create it, M for Mark, A for Anthony, and K for Kuzen. I'd expect you to know your own name." Lain told him.

Mark almost rolled his eyes at hearing this. "Yeah, I do. And last time I checked, my middle name was Rizuka, so if you put that together, you get MARK." Mark told her.

"Hey, stop ruining the name for me, I took a lot of time creating it!" Lain said.

Mark looked up at the moon and smiled to himself. "I like it." He told her, knowing it would catch her off guard.

"Huh?"

"You heard me, I like the name." Mark repeated.

"You better." Lain said, the way she was using her voice, Mark knew what expression she had on her face.

"I know your pouting, Lain. I can imagine it through the way you talk." Mark said, smirking to himself.

"Then stop smirking to yourself and maybe I'll stop." Lain said. "I'm your best friend, I know what you look like and what you're doing even though I can't see you."

'_When did I tell you to stop pouting_?' Mark thought to himself, but shook the thought off. "I know. Now, what'd you call about?"

"Oh, um, I just wanted to chat, you know." Lain said. There was a moment of silence there. Then Lain went on. "Mark..."

Mark heard a hint of concern in her voice, but didn't know if that was really her being concerned. "Yes?"

"What ever you're doing, promise me that you'll make it through it alive, okay?" Lain told him, a mix of sweetness and concern in her voice, which Mark knew was a bit out of character of her.

Mark closed his eyes and quickly thought about the promise at hand. But it didn't take much thought. "I promise." Mark said with all seriousness in his voice, but there was a hint of sadness too. "But, you have to promise me thar you'll stay safe and that I'll see when we meet at the station, got it?"

The moment of silence told Mark that she was thinking. "I promise."

Mark got on his feet and looked in the direction he needed to head. "Now I got to go. I'll see ya when I wee ya." Mark said, now waiting for her to say what she needed to say.

"Bye and good luck out there!" Lain said in a cheerful voice. Now the two waited for the other one to hang up.

"I..." Mark whispered, though he knew Lain couldn't hear him. He decided not to continue, softly laughing as he did and hung up. Putting his phone in his pocket, Mark thought for a moment about what Lain said. "She knew that I'd be doing something stupid, huh." Mark leaped over the fence and walked closer to the dead that were just sticking to that one street. "I guess I can't afford to die here. Then I'll have to use..." Mark looked down at his weapon. "I hope this'll be enough."

Mark switched his bokken from his right to his left hand, having the wooden blade pointing behind him. The stance he was in wasn't anything special, just a casual standing position. This helped him feel comfortable when moving around, also it enabled him to throw in some of the Martial Arts he knew. Mark took a deep breath before making a run into the horde.

One of the corpses turned his way faster than the others and went to lung at him. Mark smiled. '_First come, first serve_.' Mark went for the hilt of his weapon with his right hand, releasing it from his left, and going for a hard hit to the head with his wooden blade. The hit sent the corpse flying to the side, but Mark didn't relax after the first swing. Keeping his sword in his right hand, he weaved through the horde, hitting any of Them in the head with all his strength, using the hard swings of his weapon to hard kicks and throws. He then found himself over halfway to his home. '_I'm getting closer, but_...' Mark examined his weapon closely. '_Damn, the bokken can't last, it's at its breaking point_.' Mark kept going forward, maneuvering through the dead and using his arms and legs more than his worn weapon. But he eventually he found himself circled, a situation where his weapon was needed to avoid being bit. '_Just my luck_...' Mark thought as he was breathing heavily, all the running and using all his energy just to make it this far was taking its toll. Mark took another deep breath and made quick attacks at the dead, the wooden sword snapping in half as he hit his sixth target. But Mark was able to find a gap in the crowd, and luckily, it was in the direction he wanted to head. Mark dashed through, pushing aside anything that got in his way and made a big leap over the metal fence that was separating his house from the dead.

Mark collapsed after he landed knees first into the grassy yard. Catching his breath, he glanced over at the fence from the position he was in. The fence was strong enough to hold the dead back, which Mark was surprised and happy about. He then looked over at the house. The car wasn't there and it looked like no one was home. After resting a bit on the cold ground, Mark got on his feet and about dragged himself to his house. Once inside, Mark brought himself to the living room. He kicked off his shoes and took off his ripped and stained shirt, placing on the table with his bokken, and collapsed onto the couch.

_**End of Flashback...**_

Mark sighed in relief that he had made it out alive. Mark got up from the couch and made his way to his room, grabbed a towel, and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Though only for a short while. When he was done, he changed into some new clothing. He wore a black shirt, black cargo pants and a silver cross necklace. Since Mark didn't plan on going anywhere yet, he walked around in his socks.

Mark decided to see if any of his family had headed here before him, so he headed to the living room and went to a small box that was on one of the shelves. Opening it, Mark saw two dog-tag necklaces, one that belonged to him, the other belonged to his mother. Mark smiled as he knew that his sisters and stepfather were alive. How he knew was because the necklaces that were suppose to be in this box, five in total, each belonged to all five members of the family. When some kind of epidemic happens, like the one their currently in, and the family is separated, they would meet here in their home. If, for some reason, the family in the house is forced to leave, they would take their necklace out of this box to tell the other members that they were alive. So, since the necklaces of his sisters and stepfather weren't there, he knew they were alive, but the sight of his mother's necklace worried him.

"Did she make it out of that hospital..." Mark muttered to himself. His mother, Sayori, had been recently saying how a lot of people were suddenly getting sick of a mysterious disease. If that mysterious disease was the same disease bringing back the dead, Sayori would be in the worst place possible. Mark pulled out both necklaces and put the box back on the counter. "I might have to check on her myself. I'm sure Azure would agree to it, his mom is in the same situation, and the others seem to trust each us and each other." He put the necklaces in his pocket. Mark looked out his window to see that the horde was still out there, but the number of Them was a bit smaller. "Whatever is attracting Them here is doing a wonderful job at keeping Them here. It won't be an easy trip back to the others..."

Mark looked away from the window and walked through the hallway and back to his room. He gathered three items, a sheathed katana with a gold and black hilt that had a ruby gem on the bottom, the sheath being made of black leather, a medium-sized case and a smaller case. Mark unsheathed the katana halfway, staring at the blade, then sheathed it back in and strapping over his shoulders. He then opened the medium sized box. Inside was a black tomahawk, two M1911 colts, five clips for each pistol, and holsters that would hold the weapons. Mark strapped in the black leather belt that had two pistol holsters on both sides, and then strapped a black leather tomahawk holster around his right leg. After putting the guns and tomahawk in their respectful place, Mark went to open the smaller box, but instead of finding what he was looking for, the box turned out to be empty.

"No, brassknuckles, huh..." Mark thought for a moment, then realized who took them. "I guess it's better in Miyuki's hands than in mine."

Mark returned to the living room after grabbing the military boots that his stepfather had given him. After putting them on, Mark grabbed a set of keys that were on the same shelf that held the box that had the dog-tag necklaces in it. As he was about to head to the garage, Mark heard gunfire outside, and his eyes widened at the feminine scream.

...

Liana was now slowly waking from her slumber. As she got up, she felt well rested. She looked out the window, seeing the sun up in the sky, shining brightly. Though she felt refreshed, something felt off. She looked around the trunk, seeing if anything was missing.

"Hmm, me, Teddy, Mark's jacket, and-" Liana's eyes widened and she quickly scanned the car. "Mark is gone!" She yelled, waking the other three.

"Hey, what's with all the yelling?!" Sayaka yelled, upset that she was woken up.

"What do you mean Mark's gone?" Alex yawned.

"I mean he's not here!"

"Quit it with the yelling already!" Sayaka yelled.

"Maybe it'll stop when you stop yelling…" Azure said, running his hand through his wild black and white hair. "Angel, must have went on his own when we fell to sleep."

"Where would he go? The police station? We'd get there faster by car than by foot." Liana said.

"Isn't it obvious?" Azure said, taking out his Makrov, staring at the words on both sides of his pistol. On the right it read, Numquam Cede, which meant "never give up" in Latin. On the left, also in Latin, it read, Usque Ad Finem, which meant "until the end". "He went to his house. Probably didn't want us risking our lives to get there, so he went alone."

"So there's a large possibility that he's dead." Sayaka said.

"He's more likely alive than dead." Azure told her, cocking his pistol and pulling out his blue and black ninjatos, which were in strapable sheaths that he kept in his bag. He strapped the sheaths to his backside and got out of the car.

"Wait a minute! You plan on going out there to see if he's alive?!" Sayaka said as Alex got out of the car too. Sayaka shot a glance over to Alex. "You too?!"

"If there's a chance he's alive, then he's going to need all the help he can get." Alex smiled as she checked the clip in her Glock 1911. "You in or you out?"

Sayaka looked over at Liana, who had just got done putting her hair in a quick braid then exitting through Alex's door. Sayaka sighed. "Why does my group have to be filled with fucking insane people..." Sayaka about pushed her door open, putting the sheathed katana around her shoulder and grabbing her spatha. "Fine, but if you guys die, blame yourself."

"Same goes to you." Azure said, Sayaka only glaring at him. "Let's go."

The four teens made a run towards their destination, weapons at the ready. None of Them showed up until they neared the street that Mark lived on. The four took out the few that got in the way, but when they reached the exact street, the number of Them was enormous, but the teens didn't want to give up. Azure took out his MP3 and selected a song that would help him focus, Beast of America. Then Sayaka took lead as the other three shot a path for Sayaka to run through as they followed behind.

Running through the horde wasn't an easy task. Since they were within the horde now, Azure, Alex and Liana couldn't always cover for Sayaka, who, even with her skill, was still having a hard time getting through. Also, the three armed with guns had to watch their ammunition, so they had to try their best not to burn through it all.

As they neared closer to Mark's house, Azure decided to take front with Sayaka, leading the girls to the direction of the house. "We're almost there! It's that white house over there!" Azure pointed to the house. '_But I don't know if we can make it at this rate_...' That's when Azure heard Liana scream in the back. Liana and Alex had reached the end of their first clip, and while reloading, Liana got caught in a hold by three of Them. "Hold on!" Azure took two shots at two of the three with great accuracy, but when he went for a third shot, the gun clicked instead of shooting. "Crap..." Azure made an attempt to reach for another clip from his pocket, but it slipped out of his hand. He went to grab it, but now the corpse was going for a bite. Azure's heart began to race. '_I won't be able to_-'

A black item flew past Sayaka, Alex and Azure, the tomahawk hitting the corpse between the eyes, freeing Liana with no marks of infection. Surprised on their faces, they all looked towards the boy in a black shirt, black cargo pants, military boots and three different black leathered accessories. With the wind blowing back his hair, Mark dashed through the horde to his friends, his katana in hand.

Once he got to the others, who were now fending off the dead, he pulled his tomahawk from his target's head, quickly cleaning off the tip and putting it back in its holster. There was a large amount of seriousness in his eyes as he cut through the horde, using the same style he used with his bokken, but this time, he didn't need to put much effort into it for the weapon he was using now could cut swiftly without much effort. "I'll take lead here." Mark's voice had as much seriousness as he showed. He lead the group back to his home with him slashing through the dead at front and Sayaka protecting the back. The three in the middle did their best not to burn through their second clip. Mark stopped in front of his fence, quickly sheathing his sword and pulling out his M1911 colts in a flash. "Get over!" Mark yelled as he fired a couple times, keeping the dead away from his friends. The other four made their way over the fence, Mark joining them as everyone got inside.

"That was a close one..." Alex said, breathing a bit heavily from the run.

Mark set his pistols back in their holsters and turned to the others. "Are you guys insane?!"

"Us? Insane?! We're not the ones who decide to go against all that alone!" Sayaka yelled at Mark.

"What I'm trying to say is what are you four doing here?" Mark said in more calm voice.

"We came here to get you." Liana said.

Mark sighed as he scratched at the back of his neck. "I would have been just fine getting back to you guys alone. Coming here is just going to make the way back to the car much harder." Mark walked over to the window and took a peek outside. "The commotion you all made with the yelling and the gunfire most likely brought more of Them that were nearby."

"So what now, Angel? We just going to stick here until They leave?" Azure asked.

Mark thought for a moment before answering. "No, we're going to get out of here now."

"Oh come one, we just got here. Don't you think we should be resting?" Sayaka told him.

"Your guys' fault for getting into this mess." Mark joked. "Now ready your weapons while I go grab something from my sisters' room."

As the other four waited in the living room, Mark began to try and think of a better idea than the one he thought up. "There is another option...Right?" Mark muttered himself as he walked into his sisters' room. Mark walked to the desk that was between the two beds. On top of the desk was a few papers that read of some verses from songs, a lamp, and a large old boombox. Mark grabbed the handle of the boombox and a CD and opened the only window in the room. "Looks like this is it for me...Really thought I'd go far into this epidemic, but I guess it was just wishful thinking." Mark spaced out for a minute before a smile came to his face. "At least I'll die with no regret." Mark put the CD in the boombox and went through the window.

In the living room, the other four waited for Mark to get what he needed, but it seemed he was taking awhile, making the impatient Sayaka frustrated.

"What is taking that guy so long?" Sayaka said, getting up from the couch. "I going to check on what he's doing."

"Just give him some time, this is his house." Alex said. "He was also the last one to get to go to his house so-

"He's had all night! That should be enough time to-" Sayaka was interrupted by the song, In the End by Black Veil Brides. The song was coming from outside and was really loud. "What the hell is going on out there?!"

The four went outside and none of them could believe their eyes. Mark stood on top of one of the cars that was in the middle of the dead, boombox by his foot, his eyes giving off a soulless feeling. Azure and Liana were about to run in to help him, but Mark shot a bullet an inch away from them, shaking his head as they looked up at him. He then gestured for them to leave as he unsheathed his katana with his left hand, then relaxing himself as he let the blade of the sword point behind him. He jumped off the car, quickly switching his weapon to his other hand as he sliced two of Their heads off, and disappearing into the dead.

"We got to help him!" Liana said as she ran forward, but Azure grabbed her arm. "Hey, what are you doing?! He's your friend, isn't he?!"

"We have to leave." Azure said as he looked from her to the large opening of escape.

"But-"

"Do you think risking our lives to get him out of there while he's risking his life for our escape is a good idea?" Alex said. Liana was about say something, but she decided not, seeing as how useless it would be to argue. "Now that we're on the same page on the matter, let's go."

The four took their leave, leaving Mark to himself. Jumping on top of another car, Mark returned the sword to its normal position in his left hand. His greyish blue eyes, filled with a kind of emptiness as his mind brought back the memories of his life.

_**(A/N: As the flashbacks come and go, there will be some gaps in the fight against the dead. In other words, while Mark is having flashbacks, he is still fighting for his life against the dead)**_

_**Flashback...**_

A ten year old boy stood by himself as the other kids played with each other during recess. The boy had short black hair and greyish-blue eyes, which gave off a feeling of loneliness. As he watched the kids run around, he felt a tap on his shoulder. The boy turned around to see a girl, a bit shorter than himself but was the same age as he was. She had long orange hair with her bangs clipped to the side. Her sapphire blue eyes gave off a sort of sparkling effect due to the sunlight.

"H-hi." The girl said shyly.

"What do you want?" The boy said, almost emotionlessly.

The girl began to play with her fingers and she looked away from the boy. "Well, um, I was just wonder...Since you seem a bit lonely..."

"Not interested." The boy said, walking away, but the girl grabbed his arm, making him stop. "Why are you bothering me?"

"Does it hurt?"

The boy glanced back at the girl. "What do you mean?"

"To be alone...Does it hurt to be alone?" The girl's eyes and voice gave the boy a strange feeling in his chest.

Mark looked away from the girl before giving her an answer. "What's it to you? Who are you anyways?"

"My name is June Sikira. I'm in your class, Mark." June said. "I...I want to be your friend..."

"Friend..." Mark muttered before turning around. "You don't need a friend like me..."

"But you need a friend like me." June said with a shy smile.

Mark gave her a long stare, before sighing. "You're one bothersome girl. What if I said yes?"

Hearing this kind of put a gleam in June's eyes. "Um, can you come with me?"

"Where are we going?"

"I want you to meet my friends." June told Mark.

"Better not be a bunch of girls..." Mark said as he and June walked off.

_**End of Flashback...**_

Mark was walking on top of a car that he took his third break on. Mark was breathing a bit heavily. Blood was stained on his arms and face and the blade of his katana had blood here and there. He ran his right hand though his black hair as he whipped off most of the blood from his sword with his left, sheathing it after doing so. Mark then pulled out one of his pistols and his tomahawk.

Mark scanned the area as he twirled his black tomahawk in his hand. The place was still filled with the dead, much more than before with the boombox still going. Mark was still surprised that he was alive, but the question in his head was, for how long?

Mark leaped off the car and started swinging away with his tomahawk, his pistol resting in his left hand. He seemed to be going just fine until he found himself trapped with his back against another car. The dead were rushing in on him, almost making him lose his cool, but he was able to recollect himself as he jumped on top of a car, then quickly leaping into the air, spinning in a 180 and shooting the gas tank on the side of the car, making it explode. The force of the explosion sent Mark flying back...

_**Flashback...**_

A thirteen year old Mark flies back into a wall as he took a hard punch to his chest. Mark looked up at the tanned girl with shoulder-length dark-brown hair with short bangs. Her green eyes wore a bit of seriousness as she smiled at the fallen boy, who smiled back.

"You know how to throw a punch, Cass." Mark said as he got up.

"Maybe if you didn't hold back so much, you wouldn't be eating dirt." Cassie said, cracking her knuckles. "You afraid to hit a girl? Kid, that kind of attitude can get your ass kicked."

"Kid? We're about the same age." Mark said after a deep breath. "Round two?"

"Better take it seriously." Cassie said as she lunged forward with a punch.

Mark blocked the punch, then grabbing Cassie's punching arm and bringing her over his shoulders, but she landed on her feet. Mark was a bit surprised, but he couldn't make his next move for Cassie had took the moment to kick Mark on his head and pulled the same move Mark failed to do. Mark hit the ground hard, but he sucked it up and got back on his feet while Cassie went for a hard roundhouse kick. Mark dodged the kick, making Cassie lose a bit of her balance and Mark swept her off her feet, making her meet back first to the ground and then he held her down, fist in the air, ready to hit Cassie in the face. Mark went in for the punch, Cassie braising for the hit, but it never happen. Mark's fist was an inch away from her face.

"I win this round." Mark smiled.

"Best two out of three." Cassie said, kicking off the boy on top of her.

_**End of Flashback...**_

It's been thirty minutes since Mark had gotten himself in what most likely was his death. He was battling through the horde once more, his energy running low. His was resorting to his katana and tomahawk. Mark thought that if he'd survive for this long, he'd probably make it out of this seemlying endless battle with the dead, but everytime he killed one, two more seemed to take it's place.

'_So this is how Hercules felt when he went against Hydra_...' Mark thought. '_But, am I really going to end up on top_?' Then a strange feeling came over him, making remember the event from last night.

"_What ever you're doing, promise me that you'll make it through it alive, okay_?" Mark remembered Lain saying.

'_I might not be able to keep that promise_...'

_**Flashback...**_

Fourteen year old Mark Kuzen was putting his long hair in a low ponytail as a blonde was going on and on about her life at home. The girl's hair was at shoulder-length with short bangs. Mark couldn't help but smile as he listened to the girl talk. The two had been friend for four years now and Mark found the girl as his best friend more than anyone else he knew.

"My parents are all mad because there suppose prodigy child in politics is dropping a few letters in her classes." The girl finished.

Mark moved his bangs to the side so he could see a bit better with his left eye. "Do you really think that's a good thing? I'd grow a bit concerned if my daughter's grades were dropping."

"I'm not saying it's a good thing, I'll get them up eventually." The girl said, twirling her finger in her blonde hair. Then an expression appeared on the girl's face that said she just thought of something to ask Mark about. "So, how's your relationship going with June?"

Mark's face turned a bit red. "Lain, that's not any of your business."

"Oh come on, don't go using those stupid excuses of trying to avoid the question. I'm your and June's best friend, I can stick my nose in this if I want." Lain said. "So, are you going to ask her today?"

"What if she says-"

"No? Why would she say 'No'?! I know how she feels for you and trust me, you just need to be more confident." Lain told Mark. "I mean you do have the confidence when it comes to doing other things, but when it comes to this, he wimp out. What kind of man are you?"

"Oh, shut up. Just watch me, I'll do it today." Mark said.

"Yeah, I know." Lain said with a smile, Mark smiling back. "I have total faith in you so you better not wimp out of this."

"Thanks." Mark said, ruffling Lain's hair.

_**End of Flashback...**_

Mark was breathing heavily as more of Them came at him. Mark shot Them down with his M1911 colts. He laughed a bit as he rolled on top of another car for safety. He body was starting to feel a bit worn. The fight for survival seemed to never end and Mark was now sure he wouldn't make it out. It was only a matter of time he thought.

Mark thought of himself dying by the hands of the dead, being torn and ripped apart by Their abnormal strength and teeth. Mark shook the thought out of his head, telling himself that he didn't want to die as a victim to those dead freaks.

Mark looked at one of his guns, knowing that he was still on his first clip, he knew he had enough ammunition to fight against Them, but he also knew that all he needed was one bullet and everything would end there. But the question was, was he really up for something like suicide. Jumping into a huge horde of Them with a loud boombox was suicide itself, but Mark didn't really care for that matter. Deciding it'd be better to die this way instead of the slow and painful death of being eaten alive, Mark brought the gun to his head, his trigger finger shaking at the trigger.

_**Flashback...**_

A fifteen year old Mark was about ready to pull the trigger as his hands began to shake from focusing a bit hard. As he was about to fire, the boy next to him fired at the practice target first. Mark sighed and looked over at the boy with wild black and white hair and mako blue eyes. The boy wore a smile as both of them took out one of the earbuds they had on.

"Nice shot, Azure." Mark complimented as he put his M1911 colt in its holster.

"Thanks. Been practicing with the old man a lot lately." Azure said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Still trying to make the perfect legacy out of you, I see. And you don't mind?" Mark asked.

"Though at points and times, I don't like the training, I find it quite useful. Including since I'm in my first year in highschool and, well, school." Azure said.

"Yeah, like some pushover got anything on you." Mark said as he looked down the firing range. "Besides, anyone who messes with you will have to deal with Me and Cassie."

"Which one was Cassie again?"

Mark laughed a bit. "She was the girl with the dark-brown hair and the one who talks with way more confidence than the other two. The blonde and the most happy-go-luck is Delainey or as we call her, Lain. And the seemingly shy girl with orange hair and the pretty face and is also the best cosplayer I've ever met is my girlfriend, June Sikira." Mark told Azure.

"I'll see if I can remember that." Azure said, after finishing packing up his things. "Let's head back to my place."

"Yeah, barbecue night for us and the families!"

_**End of Flashback...**_

It's been an hour since the endless waves of the dead tried to take Mark. Mark was now on one knee, his body barely able to support itself, and his left shoulder felt like it was dead. Mark looked exhaustedly at the dead that was left. Many of Them had fallen, many due to the explosions of cars that Mark shot, but only about twenty of them were standing and were gaining ground on Mark.

Mark tried to make a move, but his body felt like lead and he knew he would collapse at any moment for even is vision was becoming a bit blurry. As the dead came closer, Mark felt helpless, knowing no one would come to rescue him from his impending death. He regretted not taking the shot to the head over the death that was coming to him.

As hope began to disappear, Mark tried to utter his last words before collapsing to the ground.

"So, it's all over, huh..."

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**A/N: Man, this took forever! Stupid highschool didn't give me a break! Well, it's done now and I hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Now, it's time for a short review.**_

_**So, there was a bunch of flashbacks here and there, revealing the parts of Mark's past and his bonds with some of the characters. (Yeah, I decided to be a bit selfish and try to focus the chapter on Mark than any other character. I'll do that sometimes)**_

_**We are also left with this stupid cliffhanger that the writer left us. Pfft, stupid writer...Wait..I'm the writer...Well anyways, it seems that Mark maybe meeting his end, but does that mean the end of the fic? Hell no, of course not! Why would you think that anyways?!**_

_**Let's see what happens next time.**_

_**Keeper Out!**_


	11. E1: Can We Make It?

_**Sorry for the long wait, I was taking something called a Standard Base Assessment in school. It's a test I hate. Well, enough of me for now, Read on! (Note, I didn't get time to proof read, if there is some kind of mistake you think should be fixed, PM me about it, don't you dare put it in the reviews. And if you have any question, please do ask.)**_

_**Episode 1: Can We Make It?**_

Sitting alone, staring at the sun rise in the morning sky, a boy in black shirt with a leather jacket and blue jeans was in deep thought. Satoshi looked down at his new set of clothes, putting on a small smile as he returned his attention to the outside. The start of a new day gave Satoshi a mix of relief and uneasiness. Relief because he had survived the day before, but uneasy for something about today felt off. For some reason, he ended up thinking of Ethan Scott, the teacher that was with them at the high school. The action he took back then was able to save him and others. Now being the oldest of the group, Satoshi wondered if he could do the same if the group was in a tough spot.

While he thought on, Hoshiko had woken up and took notice of Satoshi as she wandered about the mall. She walked over to the boy as she fixed her golden-like hair. "Hey, Satoshi." Hoshiko greeted, breaking Satoshi's train of thought. "What were you thinking about?"

Satoshi kept his eyes on the outside for a second before facing her. "My family. Just wondering if my sisters and brother made it. Got to stay optimistic."

"You got that right." Hoshiko said, taking a seat by the window. Looking out, she saw that the dead were still about, many were limping slowly around, but the majority of the dead she saw were the one that were taken out from the event of last night. "There is still quite a lot of Them out there. I hope whatever Delainey had set up works. I'd feel way safer if we were at that station. What's it like there?"

Satoshi thought about how to answer the question. "The place is pretty big, being the main station. Half the place is built like a prison, got the felonies and criminal on that side, along with the offices that working officers work in. But the other half is more luxurious. That half has a gym, a place for shelter and relaxation, and some barracks. Between those is the cafeteria, where food is served and music is play by either the prison band or celebrities."

"celebrities?"

"This is Los Angeles." Satoshi said.

"Good point." Hoshiko thought for a moment. "You said they put a place for shelter. Why put something like that in a police station?"

"Good question. Reason was that we thought of having a place be set up in the station for people who have been in some kind of situation that would render them homeless or the people who need a place to stay safe." Satoshi explained. "I think this is where everyone will be resting. There are many different rooms, but the down fall is that there are only two showers in the station, one for the men and the other for the women, no private showers."

"Being the main station and all, I take there's a gate surrounding it, right?" Hoshiko asked.

"You're talking like you haven't seen the city." Satoshi laughed. "Yes, there is a steel gate surrounding the place, strong enough to hold off the dead and gives us a clear visual of the outside. There's an underground parking lot, where we should be able to keep our cars safe. A radio tower was built just recently, so we can stay in contact with the outside world and each other if we can get someone to install radios to each car we're going to be using." Satoshi looked out the window. "The safest place to be right now is there. All we need to do is get there."

Hoshiko put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a smile as he looked at her. "We will make it, I have no doubt about it. We have Rikio leading us and the others are starting to become one team. All we need to do is stay optimistic, right?"

"Right." Hoshiko and Satoshi looked at the boy behind them who had answered. His dark purple eyes were staring at the two, a calm smile on his face. Rikio sat next to Hoshiko, who reddened a bit. "Good morning you two. Hope you two slept well. Hoshi, are the other girls awake?"

"Um, no, not yet." Hoshiko answered. "How about Katsu?"

"He's still sleeping, maybe the event from last night took a lot out of him." Rikio told her, while scanning the streets from the second floor window. "So today is the day, you two ready?" The other two nodded. "Good. you're going to need to be. Thanks to the two boys from last night, we have a car we can use to get to the station." Rikio reminded them as he looked at the key that was given to them from last night. "Can you two come with me? We'll need to collect some things."

The three removed themselves from the spot to go around the mall for anything that may have been necessary to grab. While they went around, Cassie and Shao found themselves awake in the mostly empty mattress store. They noticed that Hoshiko wasn't in the room, and that Lain was still fast asleep. Still a bit groggy, the two didn't feel like leaving the store to walk about. Instead, the two stayed in the store, either sitting or lying back in their bed, and engaged in small conversations.

"Talk about a day yesterday..." Cassie said as she stared up at the ceiling. Shao remained silent. "Must of had a lot of fun, playing with the dead with the boys, huh. Kinda wish I was there, would have been fun to kick some dead beat's ass." Still, the red-eyed girl was quiet. "You know, it gets kinda awkward when it seems like you're talking to yourself, if you know what I mean."

Shao yawned before adjusting into a seating position on her bed and looked over at Cassie. "Sorry, I'm just not a morning person."

"Not at talkive one either." Cassie smiled as she looked at Shao, who returned a smile back at her. "Sleep good?"

"Better than I thought." Shao answered.

"I know what you mean. With this whole epidemic going on you would think it would feel a bit uncomfortable to sleep. But fortunately for us, we were able to sleep without problem." Cassie paused for a moment as her and Shao heard the soft humming of the tri-haired girl. The tune was Jolly Old St. Nicholas.

"Is she awake?" Shao asked.

Cassie only smiled and laughed a bit before answering. "No, she sleep talks sometimes, talking, singing, humming, as long as it has to do with using her voice, she'll do it when sleeping." Cassie sat up and stretched. "I was wondering, what was it like last night? I wasn't there to help or witness it, so I'm just wondering what a missed."

"A bit tiring." Shao answered simply.

"That's all you're going to tell me?" Cassie said. "Shouldn't have expected much..."

"If you want a well detailed story, I not your girl. Maybe if you ask Katsu, he'll tell you what happened without leaving out anything." Shao told Cassie.

"Yeah, but since he seems like one of those guys who get side-tracked easily when telling a story, I won't understand a damn thing he's telling me." Cassie decided to change the subject as Lain's humming stopped and she was breathing softly. "Never mind last night, you think we'll make it to that car? I mean it's not that far, but since Rikio or Hoshiko haven't came here to tell us that we should make our move now, I'm taking that the street is still filled with those cannibalistic freaks."

"We'll probably make it. Doesn't Lain have a trick up her sleeve?" Shao said as she ran her hands down her black and red hair.

"I must have forgotten about that. Can't wait to see everyone's' faces when they see what Lain set up." Cassie said.

Shao put on a curious face. "What exactly is it?" Shao asked.

Cassie looked at her, thinking whether or not she should tell her or not. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to answer. "Alright, since our little friend here is asleep and no one else is here, I'll tell you." Cassie gestured for Shao to come closer. Shao got off her bed, and walked over to Cassie. "Okay, Lain-"

"Presents!" Lain screamed as she shot up onto her feet, startling the other two girl. Cassie and Shao looked at blonde, who was rocking back and forth drowsily, her eyes still closed. Lain took a deep breath before saying, "Thank you, Santa..." A moment after she fell backwards into her bed, the force of the fall meeting the mattress made Lain bounce off the bed and onto the floor, groaning shortly after.

Cassie and Shao stared at the fallen girl before laughing, Lain joining in shortly after she got to her feet. After a short while of laughing, the three calmed down a bit.

"Morning..." Lain said drowsily.

"Are you really awake?" Shao asked.

"No, I'm Lain. I'm at the North Pole, sipping some hot chocolate with the elves. I'm not in Los Angeles, California, in the middle of some kind of epidemic that involves the dead coming back and infecting others. Nope, I'm in the North Pole." Lain said, her eyes were staring at the other girls with laziness and drowsiness. "Now, back to those cookies. Let's go to the other..." Lain began muttering to herself to the point where Cassie nor Shao could understand what she was saying.

"I can't tell if she's really half asleep or just not accepting the reality." Cassie said. Cassie walked over to Lain and clapped her hands as hard as she could behind the drowsy girl, the sound startling Lain.

"Gah!" Lain jumped and looked back at Cassie, her leathery-brown eyes meeting Cassie's green eyes, though they still gave off a lazy feeling. "Cass, you made me spill the milk."

"That better not be code for you peed yourself." Cassie sighed as Lain gave her a blank look. "Let get ourselves some new clothing, I getting tired of these bloodstained clothes." Cassie pick up Lain, who was wiggling about as she was brought over Cassie's shoulder.

"Hey, put me down! The elves haven't given me my cookies yet! Cookies!" Lain said, struggling to escape from Cassie, but utterly failing.

Cassie looked over at Shao as she kept Lain over her shoulder. "Shao, you coming or not. I know you're getting tired of those clothes too."

"I don't know, I feel a bit dizzy." Shao told her.

"What do you have, anemia?" Shao was silent as she fixed her hair a bit. "You do, huh...Look, I'm not just going to leave you here. Just walk it off, that is if you can. If you can't, we'll just stay here."

Shao thought for a moment. "I guess I can try..."

"Alright then." Cassie said as Shao walked over. Cassie then brought her attention back to Lain, who still hasn't given up on escaping. "Stop squirming, we're going to drop by the stockroom, I heard they stocked up on Christmas real early."

Lain stopped squirming, making Cassie smile. "Lead me to the Promise Land." Lain said plainly.

The girls exited the mattress store, Lain still being carried about until they reached the stockroom. While the trio searched for clothes, Satoshi, Rikio and Hoshiko were about to wrap up on their little search. They had gathered a few snacks and drinks in a duffel bag, plus another duffel bag that had the other set of clothing. On the way, Rikio decided to change out of his school clothes and into the new ones that he had picked out from last night.

Instead of the black pants and dress shirt combo with the black shoes, he wore black jeans and black t-shirt, black shoes, and he wrapped bandages all the way up from his hands to his elbows, plus he wore the same wrist watch from his earlier attire. He had also given the time to fix his hair into the classic hero hairstyle he had the day before.

Rikio's purple eyes looked at his watch, before deciding it was almost about time. The other two agreed, thinking the other might be awake, but to make sure, Hoshiko and Rikio went to check on the other four. When they went to check on the girls, they found that they weren't in the mattress store. Keeping calm, the two assumed that the girls were merely taking a stroll around the mall. Next they headed to check on Katsu. They headed near the direction of the clothing section of the mall, where the boys decide to sleep. but they didn't need to head far for the fearless boy crossed paths with them, happy and energetic as ever.

Katsu looked over at the pair and smiled as he adjusted his goggles. "Hey Prez, Vice, you two on a date?" Katsu joked.

"Eh? I-it's not like that!" Hoshiko said, the white skin on her cheeks turning a bit pink. She looked at Rikio hoping he would clarify that it wasn't what it seemed, but Rikio just gave her a smile, which made the redness of her cheeks more noticeable. "Ah, um..."

"We just came to get you, we're about ready to head out." Rikio informed Katsu.

A big smile appeared on Katsu's face. "Really now. Well, this is going to be one heck of a party. Us against the dead." Katsu laughed as he looked out a far window on the first floor, seeing the dead as they limped along, some even stopping to aimlessly stare off in the distance in front of the window. "Cupid said she cooked something up for the situation, right? I can't wait to see what it is."

"Speaking of Delainey, have you seen her and the other two girls?" Rikio asked.

"Not to long ago, Peachy was carrying Cupid to the stockroom, Red was with them too." Katsu told them. "Oh, have you seen my bat? After last night, I don't remember where I put it."

"I put it with the other weapons." Hoshiko said. "They should be on the first floor with Satoshi."

"Ah, Black-Eyes, huh. Well at least it's not lost." Katsu said. "Oh, what do you think of the new clothes, had my eyes on them for awhile now." Rikio just smiled as he already knew of Katsu's new appearance, but Hoshiko examined him head to toe. Katsu was wearing a black jacket with grey tribal markings, zipped open to reveal the red shirt with the same grey marking that was underneath, dark blue jeans, black boots, and the same blue polarized goggles he wore from before. "So, what do you think? Awesome, right?"

"It fits you very well." Hoshiko said.

"Thanks Vice. Well, I'm gonna head to the first floor with Black-Eyes. I'll see ya guys there!" Katsu said, running past the two.

Rikio looked back at the spiky haired boy as he ran to the first floor. "That boy sure is something, huh. Just yesterday he was doing the same thing to us, running past us like no tomorrow. Wish I could be more carefree like him."

"But carefree doesn't fit your character." Hoshiko said, smiling as she did. "You're our reliable leader, who we all count on."

"Not everyone counts on me." Rikio said.

"Well, I do..." Her face was now red with embarrassment as Rikio looked at her. She decided to look away from the pale boy.

Rikio took a slight breath before putting a hand on her shoulder, making Hoshiko look back at him, redness still in her cheeks. There were some strands of hair in front of her face as Rikio's purple eyes looked into her maroon. Rikio brought up his other hand to adjust the strands of hair to the side of Hoshiko's face, brushing the side of her cheek. Hoshiko stood there, dazed, as she and Rikio stared into each others eyes.

Not too far away, Lain, Cassie and Shao were exitting the stockroom, Cassie and Shao carrying a few set of clothes. The three had picked out a least one set of clothing, excluding Lain, who was having a type of Christmas Fever in the late month of September. Pleased with her selection, Lain tried her best to contain herself.

"More reindeer charms, more bedazzled jeans, more Christmas sweaters, shirts, accessories and..." Lain reached into her back pocket and pulled something out. "Undies!" Lain yelled as she put a pair of girl's underwear over Cassie's head.

"Lain." Cassie said, keeping a leveled head. "Get your underwear off my head or I'll drop your clothes over the railing." Lain laughed a bit before removing the underwear from Cassie's head. Cassie sighed as she looked forward. That's when she saw Rikio and Hoshiko having their moment. "You two, to the side." Cassied whispered to Shao and Lain.

"Why-" Lain then noticed Rikio and Hoshiko. "To the side it is then." Lain said, bringing Shao with her over to Cassie, who was standing by an entrance to a clothing store, keeping out of the sight of the pair ahead. Once Lain and Shao got there, both Lain and Cassie peeked over the corner. "What do you know, we got us some lovebird."

"Though, their relationship was kind of obvious. I already knew that Goldilocks was heads over heels for our valiant leader." Cassie said, no surprise in her voice."

'_Why are we doing this_?' Shao asked herself, not minding to ask out loud due to being intruged of the scene before them.

The three watched as the Hoshiko and Rikio silently stared at each other. Not too long after, Rikio began to slowly lean in, the three girls watching knew exactly what was happening, Lain being the most drawn in than the other two.

Lain's body began to shake a bit in anticipation, leaning forward a bit more to watch. "Oh my god, he's making a move." Lain whispered.

"Finally, he did something. Now it's about time." Cassie said low enough for only Shao to hear.

"Time for what?" Shao asked.

"Just watch."

As Rikio inched closer, Hoshiko began to lean in a bit too. Lain, being almost completely focused in the moment, began to feel a bit of suspense in the moment and she began to lose sense of her surroundings. Now, with their faces less than an inch away from each, both could feel the soft breaths brushing their skin. Hoshiko was now shaking from nervousness, she could feel her face becoming warmer, telling her that her face was red. Rikio smiled at the sight, thinking that it was kind of cute. As their lips were about to touch, a certain girl with tri-colored hair fell from her hiding place, bring a the metal pole she was leaning on down with her. The sound of the metal pole startled both Rikio and Hoshiko, Hoshiko accidently biting Rikio's lower lip. Ignoring the trivial pain of his lower lip, Rikio looked over at Lain, who was laughing a bit nervously.

"Hehe, hello there." Lain said, getting up and rubbing the back of her head as Cassie and Shao came out of the store they were in, Cassie laughing a bit as she came out.

"How long have you three been there?" Rikio said calmly.

"Long enough to see almost everything." Lain said.

"So you were spying?" Hoshiko said, still embarrassed of the scene that they had watched.

"She was spying the most out of the three of us." Shao said, pointing at Lain.

"Sorry?" Lain said, cocking her head a bit with a smile on her face. "It's just a habit I have ever since I was trying to get two of my friends together. Spied on the progress of their relationship, you know."

Lain remembered the time when she would spy on Mark and June now and then while she was trying to get them together. Ocassionally, Cassie would be there to, but that was usually happen when she wants to see how Lain will blow her cover, like she did almost every time.

"It's fine." Rikio said. "With this matter aside, we were just looking for you three to tell you that we're going to move out now."

"Now, huh. Well, at least give me a bag to put these clothes." Cassie said, looking from the clothes to Hoshiko and Rikio.

The five went walked back to the first floor, where Katsu and Satoshi were waiting. After Shao, Cassie and Lain put their clothes in one of the duffle bags, the seven teens grabbed the weapons they had and the backpacks they brought. Each was more eager to leave and make it to the police station instead of fearing the dead. Rikio glanced out the surrounding windows on the first floor. Many of Them were in the way of the door, making seem stupid to just run out there.

Rikio looked at Lain, who was jumping up and down a bit. "That little something you had in mind..."

"A set and ready to go!" Lain said. "Cassie, you know what to do!" Cassie smiled as she threw SOG SEAL knife in a direction, cutting a hidden string that Lain had set up, then dropping blade first into a cushion of a couch.

The string was connected to several other strings, most of them had a lit lighter at the end of it, which lit up some of the sparklers that were set up to lead to the entrance. Four other strings swung down to reveal four watch bombs, a bomb the consisted of a watch that was connected to a chunk of C4 by a few red and black wires. The digital watches were counting down from fifteen seconds.

Katsu looked over at Lain was at awe at her little set up. "Cupid, is that gonna go-"

"Ka-boom!" Lain yelled as she made a dive behind a counter.

"Everyone get back!" Cassie yelled, everyone put distance away from the four bombs.

Not long after, the four bombs went off, the force of the explosion being intense, but the counters the group hid behind protected them from it. The explosion had put a large hole in the entrance, and it had also taken out a large number of Them. The seven teens looked up over their counters and heard an wizzing and pop of a firework, in the air was a faint green.

"Go, go, go!" Lain yelled as she dashed forward, fire extinguisher in her back pack and metal pipe in hand.

The others followed, Hoshiko with her broomstick, Katsu with his bat, Satoshi with his M19, Rikio and his Martial Arts, Shao with her M9 and bokken, and Cassie went to retrieve her knife from the couch and followed the others. The formation they took when they got outside was Lain, Shao and Katsu at front, Cassie and Satoshi taking center position, and Rikio and Hoshiko covering the back.

The explosion may have killed many of Them, but it had also attracted some of Them in the surrounding area. The dead were coming from almost all directions, but this didn't stop the seven as they weaved their way through, taking out any of Them that got in the way. For the moment, fear had not taken its control over the teens, their will to live was what drove them. They knew that there was no time to breakdown, no time for second thought, if they wanted to live in this new world, they'd have to risk it all.

The group was now near the turn that Shadow and Kazue had told Shao about. Satoshi scanned the street while firing away with the new rounds of ammunition that was stocked in the gun store in the mall. "Do any of you guys see the blue van?"

"There it is." Hoshiko said, pointing at a blue van not so far away.

The group made their way through the incoming dead. More of Them had appeared, all heading in their direction, which left the van wide open from the dead. But the group would still need to make it through the dead. Each teen was breathing heavily. If they were alone, any one of them would have been able to make it to the car without problem. Since their group consisted of seven people and they wanted to stay together, it became a bit exhausting and difficult.

As the group made their way forward, Lain had tripped over feet, causing her to fall to the ground. Rikio was the first to her, he was able to knock some of the dead away, but Lain couldn't get back on her feet, saying that her ankle was hurting. Rikio went to try to support her, but as he did seven of Them lunged at the two. Bracing themselves, Lain and Rikio were ready for the worst. But suddenly, the rapid fire of an M16 shot three of dead down. Satoshi went to fire once more, but the gun didn't fire. Throwing his gun to the ground, Satoshi dashed as fast as he could, then taking the bites of the four other corpses in place of Rikio and Lain, pain running from his arms and back as the teeth sunk in.

"Satosh!"

"Hold on!" Katsu yelled as he was able to knock down the four corpses, Satoshi's M16 in his other hand. Satoshi dropped to his knee as his arms and back ached and he began to feel slightly light headed. "Black-Eye's are you okay?"

"Get out of here..." Satoshi said as Katsu handed him his gun.

"Satoshi, you just-"

"It's too late for me!" Satoshi yelled as the dead began to circle around the group. Satoshi got back on his feet, reloading his gun, and started shooting most of the ammo in the clip. He was able to make a big enough opening for the group. "Get out of here, there's no need to worry about me, I'll be fine."

"You sure about this?" Hoshiko asked as she swung down on one of the dead. Satoshi nodded. "Rikio?"

Rikio had handed Lain over to Cassie, who had taken the opening to the van. Rikio was now looking down at his fallen ally, the boy who had just saved him. "Satoshi, do you want to tell me anything before we go?"

"My sisters and my brother...I know their alive somewhere out there. When you find them, please, take care of them for me." Satoshi said, firing a bit to keep the gap open. "Now go, I don't want any of you guys dying here."

Hoshiko and Katsu ran through the gap, leaving just Rikio and Satoshi. Satoshi looked at Rikio with narrowed eyes. Rikio stood before Satoshi, eyes closed as if thinking. When they opened, Rikio gave Satoshi a small smile. "You know, you're a real hero." Rikio said before running through the closing gap.

Satoshi smiled to himself as the words echoed in his head. Satoshi quickly reloaded his gun and began to kill of as many as he could with his last clip. Many thought were going through his head as he his body slowly began to feel numb. '_Hikari, Sakura, Kazou...I'm sorry, your big brother won't be there anymore...I know you three can find your way to Rikio and the others, I just know it, so please, stay safe. And...never forget about how much I love you_...'

The group was on the road again in the new blue van they obtained. This time, Cassie was driving, Lain in the passenger's seat, and Shao, Katsu, Rikio and Hoshiko were in the back. There was an awkward silence in the car as it drove down some empty roads. It was like when they had lost Scott, that time was the same as now, except for the fact that Lain wasn't trying to cheer anyone up. The last time she tried, it didn't really help. No one was in the mood for any cheery words.

As time passed, they were on the verge of a turn that would lead them to the police station, but Lady Luck decided to flip the coin. The engine to the van suddenly fried and the road ahead was mostly filled with Them. The gates to the station was was closed and was where the dead were all gathered. The now six teens had gotten out of the broken down van, looking at the obstacle that stood in their way.

"Looks like we hit another obstacle." Hoshiko said.

"So close, yet so far." Lain said, reaching in the direction of the station with one of her arms. She was feeling a bit better on her feet, but was still limping a bit.

"We can't give up hope just yet. We've already come this far so we can't just back down." Rikio said, cracking his knuckles. '_I know we can do this_.'

"No more talk, I'm getting bored." Katsu said, adjusting his goggles over his eyes. "Black-Eyes is gonna need some avenging. These dead beats are going down!" Katsu yelled, running off.

"Crazy guy doesn't know when to rest, does he." Cassie said, following behind, Lain by her side. Rikio, Shao and Hoshiko went off into a run too.

But none were running for long as a black bo staff with a red dragon coiling up it got in the way of Katsu, who almost ran into it. At the same time the group stopped to look at the two boys that were now blocking their way, a barrage of explosion went off ahead of them, killing the dead that stood in the way. When the explosion was over, the group looked from the open area ahead of them and the two boys who smiled at the six.

"Welcome to your refuge."

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**A/N: That is the end of this chapter, hoped you liked it. Let's go over a short review of what just happened.**_

_**Group 2 has made it to the police station, give'em a round of applause *Clap, clap, clap*. Though, even though they had made it, they didn't all make it. The story had suffered another lost, Satoshi Minegishi.**_

_**Now we have the two boys I didn't feel like describing until next time. All we know is one of them has a black bo staff with a red dragon coiling up it, and by the way, this is not Kazue Baronage, our other bo staff user. There is also a wonder if Satoshi's words are true. Is his sibling still alive? Will they be able to make their way to the refuge of the police station.**_

_**That brings me to another question, what of the other group? Group 1 had dropped from five to four members. Will they be able to make it to safety as well?**_

_**Well, we'll have to just see, don't we? That all, folks. Keeper O-**_

_***Door opens to my man cave.***_

_**Lain: Oh this is what this place is...Interesting...**_

_**Me: Lain! What are you doing here?!**_

_**Lain: Oh hello mister...um...**_

_**Me: Just call me Keeper and then you can leave.**_

_**Lain: But Keeper, I just got here! I want a break from this epidemic and hang out. Why is that bad? You can't have a girl in your room? Afraid I might give you the cooties, hmmm?**_

_**Me: *Sighs* Fine, I guess we have some time to hang out, but what is it you really came here for?"**_

_**Lain: Ahem, I'm just wondering if the reader have a favorite character. Hey, readers! Say who your favorite character is so far in the review!**_

_**Me: I'd like to add that you can't pick your own OC. Makes the question kinda stupid if you pick the OC's you made.**_

_**Lain: You better pick me! If you don't, you're getting coal, COAL I say!**_

_**Me: *Chuckles a bit* Alright, that's all for now, Keeper out!**_

_**Lain: And Lain loves you all! Remember that!**_


	12. End of Episode 1: Reunited

_**As always, I didn't proof read this, I was to tired too, worked through the midnight to 3 in the morning just to get done. Any question, just ask. Any bothersome mistakes, let me know. Now go on, READ!**_

_**End of Episode 1: Reunited**_

On the streets of the dead, a single car, a black C-RV, drove down these roads. From a number of five members to begin with, the teens inside were four, each but one were remorsing a bit. The lose of an ally...A lose of a friend...this had put the group in silent grieving. Sayaka, who didn't car for the well being nor trusted the group as much, was a bit touched by Mark's sacrifice, wondering what would make him so selfless to do what he did. Azure was in the passenger's seat as Sayaka drove, he was calm, though he was in deep thought about what had taken place. Not so long ago, he had lost a friend, a great friend, his childhood friend. He wondered what he would have to tell Mark's family when the time would come. Liana sat silently in the back. She knew she hadn't known Mark no longer than a day, but within that day, she felt like he and her were friends for longer than the given time. Now, she sat there, thinking of how it all could have been different if they hadn't left to go get him. She smiled to herself grimly as she knew she shouldn't be thinking so negatively. Alex was staring mindlessly out her window. She knew Mark just a bit. They had engaged in short conversations in the past, and both were friends with Cassie Vargez, but they weren't officially friends. In the car, even though she wasn't consciously paying attention, she could feel the sadness radiating from the others, knowing that there had been many loses during just one day, friends and relatives were all taken away the group.

As Alex thought of something, Azure was getting a bit tired of the silence. "We shouldn't be mourning over this. Mark wouldn't want that."

"I'm not exactly mourning, nor do a give a damn about what happened." Sayaka said.

Azure looked at Sayaka, anger growing in his face. "How can you just say that? He's the reason you're alive right now. Without the actions Mark took, you would be one of Them right now!"

"How much times do I have to tell you that I don't care, I would have ditched you guys even before he did what he did." Sayaka said plainly.

"Why you-"

"That's enough you two." Liana told Sayaka and Azure, trying to prevent the argument that was soon to come. "We don't need to be fighting right now. I know Sayaka didn't mean it, she's probably real grateful for what Mark did." Sayaka just rolled her eyes a bit. "Now can we just focus on getting to the police station? I already had enough of the dead and I already lost my friends and my mom, the last thing I need is pointless arguing."

Azure took a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right, sorry. Just today isn't my day."

"It's no ones' either. We all lost precious people." Alex said, looking down at her guitar case.

"It's not fair, you know. A lot of people died and they don't even get a proper funeral. They don't even get to rest in peace either. What's left of them is some empty vessel that eats away at the living. They probably don't want that, to have their last thoughts be about them turning to Them." Liana said.

The group grew silent again as the car took another turn. They were closing in on their destination, but many of the streets were infested with the dead. It had been awhile before they were able to find a decent enough street to go though, but they have distanced themselves from the station more than they had wanted. The silence grew on, making the drive seem like forever.

In the mind of Azure, he was beginning to wonder about something that he felt he should have thought about earlier. Just about an hour after they had left Mark, a white hummer had sped by. Azure thought he might have seen familiar looking people. The question lingering in his mind was, "Who?". Trying to remember the faces, he found it hard to put a name to a face he was trying to remember.

His train of thought was broken by the clicks of the locks to Alex's guitar case. Azure looked back at the two girls in the back. Alex was pulling out her guitar. "What are you doing, Alex?"

"We may not be able to give the dead a proper funeral, but at least we could try to send them off with a song." Alex said, strumming her guitar. "And it'll break the annoying silence in this car. You got a problem?" Azure shook his head before reverting his attention to the outside.

"What song are you going to play?" Liana asked.

"A song by Sarah McLachlan…"

_**(A/N: I should have put this in the beginning of the story, but better late than never, I guess…)**_

_**DISCLAIM: I do not own anything of HSOTD, The OC's, excluding my own, and any songs, books, games and references that I may mention or type out, all this belongs to their respective owners. The only thing I own are my OC's and the plot of Bloodstained World.**_

_**Note that I'll usually underline any titles of songs/games/books I may mention.**_

_**(Also like to say that the lyrics to the songs I type with be in**_ _Italics_. _**Also, the song that Alex is going to sing is titled, **__**I Will Remember You. **__**If you're one of those people who like emotional songs, then go to Youtube and listen to it. If you're not, well then just read the next part like you would normally do in any fic. That is all**_**.**)

Alex began strumming her guitar, getting use to the feeling. Not to long after, she stopped, took a deep breath, and began to play.

"_I will remember you, will you remember me?_

_Don't let your life pass you by_

_Weep not for the memories_

_Remember the good times that we had?_

_I let them slip away from us when things go bad._

_How clearly I first saw you smilin' in the sun_

_Want to feel your upon me_

_I want to be the one..."_

With the first part of the song just passing, there was already a lot of emotion in the car. Alex sang on to the chorus...

_"I will remember you, will you remember me?_

_Don't let your life pass you by_

_Weep not for memories..."_

Alex took a slight breath then continued on...

_"I'm so tired but I can't sleep_

_Standin' on the edge of something much deep_

_It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word_

_We are screaming inside, but we can't be heard._

_I will remember you, will you remember me?_

_Don't let life pass you by_

_Weep not for the memories..."_

Alex looked around the car as she took another break as she strummed on. Sayaka was still driving, but with the look on her, which was visible to Alex through the rear-view window, she could tell that Sayaka was in sync with the song. Azure sat in his seat, eyes closed, listening. And Liana was looking out the window, hiding the expression on her face. Smiling, Alex went on...

_"I'm so afraid to love you_

_But more afraid to lose_

_Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose_

_Once there was a darkness_

_Deep and endless night_

_You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me life._

_I will remember you, will you remember me?_

_Don't let life pass you by_

_Weep not for the memories..."_

Repeating the chorus one last time, Alex began to wrap up the song. As she finish the song, a small set of applause from Liana and Azure filled the silence after. Alex smiled as she put her guitar back in it's case and locking it.

"Wow." Liana sniffed. "You have a wonderful voice."

"The song you picked was fitting." Azure said. "Also, your accent mixed in quite well too."

"Thanks." Alex smiled. "What did you think, Sayaka?"

"It wasn't bad." Sayaka said plainly.

The group began to talk little by little. They were nearing a bit closer to the station. As they made a turn, a sound of an explosion boomed in air. Sayaka started to drive fast, wondering of who may have set off the explosion. When they the gates to the police station came into view, the four were surprised to see eight figures standing in near the gate, and were even more surprised to see six familiar looking teens. As soon as they stopped the car in front of the gates, the four got out of the car to meet the others.

"Hey! It's Azure!" Lain yelled as she limped alongside Cassie. "And Alex too!"

"Cassie, Lain, you two made it out..." Azure took notice of their numbers. "You dropped a couple too, huh."

"What do you mean by 'too'?" Rikio asked.

Azure gave Rikio a looked before sighing. "What do you think I mean?"

"Um, Azure, where's Mark?" Lain asked. Azure didn't answer.

"You can't be serious..." Cassie muttered.

"Huh? What are you two talking about?" Lain asked.

"Lain, Mark's dead." Alex told her, Lain's eyes widening.

"Wait that can't be right...He-" Lain didn't even continue as she smiled herself, confusing the others. "No...He's not dead."

"Delainey, I now it's hard to accept, but-" Hoshiko started.

"No, no, no." She said calmly. "I know he's alive, I can feel it. And he promised he would be." Lain said, refering to the conversation she had last had with Mark.

Though Lain had said this, the others thought she was just giving herself false hope. What had the others attention the most was the two boys that weren't originally from the group, who were by the C-RV.

One of the boys looked like he was in his Junior year, having dark skin, which was due to his father being African-Amercian, though he had the looks of a Japanese due mother being Japanese. He had deep hazel eyes and spiky black hair. He stood at 5'9" with a body at excellent shape. The boy wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black cargo pants with multiple pockets that held ammunition and had a design of red fire on it. He also wore red Air-Jordans and dog-tags around his neck. The boy was also holding a black bo staff, which had a design of a red dragon coiling up it.

The other was a tall 16 year old boy with sandy-brown hair that was gelled in the front and combed over to the left side, and he had slightly tan skin with a scrawny upper body and toned legs. He wore a short-sleeved undershirt that was a bit tight with a deep black jacket that has a collar that pops up when it's zipped up, the jacket was open below his chest. He wore dark blue jeans that are a bit loose, giving him the ability to move more freely, but they fall slightly. the boy had on flamboyantly dark blue tennis shoes with oranges stripes on the sides. This boy was carrying a Bushmaster AR-15 in one hand while he tossed a grenade up and down

"Long time no see, Cuz." The dark-skinned boy looking towards Azure.

"I guess it has been awhile, huh, Ari." Azure said to his cousin, Ari Sonten. Azure's eyes glanced towards the tan-skinned boy. "Who's your friend?"

"Name's Jared Frederick." Jared told Azure and the others.

"I met him while in the neighborhood." Ari told Azure. "I'll tell you more when we get inside. Staying out here will leave wide open for Them to get at us. You guys should all head in while Jared and I get this car in the underground garage."

"I'll be doing that." Cassie said as Sayaka tossed her the keys to the C-RV. "It's my car."

After they had decided to have Cassie bring in her car, sending Jared with her to show her the way, the combined group started they're walk to the station as the gates closed behind them. As the they walked, they're were many conversations going on, Liana was asking how Shao had been, Lain and Alex engaged in a conversation about music, Rikio and Hoshiko were just casually talking to each other, Sayaka was avoiding any conversation with anyone, and Katsu was up front with Ari and Azure, asking Ari questions from, "Were you guys the ones who helped us back then?" to "Where did you get those grenades? You gotta show me where those grenades are, okay?". After answering question after question, Ari was able to take a break from the questions as they reached the entrance to the station.

"Alright, everyone, when you get inside, you want to take the first right down the hallway, the path will lead you to the lobby where Mr. Suzunika will give a short tour of where is where and what is what." Ari informed everyone. He held the door for everyone to get in. The only person who hadn't gotten inside was his cousin. "Maybe what that girl said was true, maybe Mark is alive, Azure."

"I can't really see that. The last I saw Mark, he jumped into a platoon of Them, giving us a chance to escape." Azure said. "How I'm a going to explain this to his family?"

Ari looked away from Azure for a moment. "You know, Angelo Suzunika was the only one from Mark's family who made it here. Mark's mom...both your moms ar still trapped within the hospital. Big chance they didn't make it. And his sisters just never showed." Ari told Azure.

Azure looked down at the ground, his white bangs hiding his eyes. He sighed after a few moments and gave Ari a nod. "I guess it'll be a little easier tell Angelo what happened to his stepson."

_**Hour After Group 1 Left Mark...**_

A boy with black hair was on the verge of blacking out as a number a twenty of Them started gaining ground on him. His greyish-blue eyes stared aimlessly at his surroundings, body trembling as he tried to stay on his knee. His breathing was heavy from exhaustion. He had been going on nothing but will power after the second half of the hour. As the boy was about to lose consciousness, he muttered his last words before collapsing to the ground. "So, it's all over, huh..."

As the boy hit the ground, a white hummer had made a sharp turn in his direction. The car then skid into a stop and two figure out of the four immediately got out of the car, one boy jumping through the sunroof of the car and the other from the passenger's seat. One of the boys was wielding a black bo staff with metal ends. The other had dual fencing sabers.

The two boys had a gleam of seriousness in their eyes as they went in to rescue the unconscious boy, one of the boys' seriousness was obvious for when in an intense situation and he became completely serious, his different colored eyes would give off a silver-like color, making his eye colors similar to each other. This was due to a unique disease he had at birth. Unfortunately, the disease also consisted of a lung condition. When he overworks his body against it's limit, which can happen quickly when he is completely serious, he'll pass out. To prevent this, he takes medication to keep himself at check.

The skilled teens were able to wipe the street of the remaining dead. Now walking over to the unconscious boy, the boy with the silver eyes, which were slowly fading to his normal colors, his left a dark-green and his right a golden-yellow, went to support the fallen boy to his feet, putting the unconscious boy's arm around his shoulder and then putting his own arm around the boy's shoulder.

The boy looked at the exhausted boy he was carrying. He smiled and remembered what he would say at times like these when he and the boy were real young. "Goddammit Mark..."

"Kazue, is he alright?" Asked the other boy who exited the hummer.

The boy stood at 6'4" with a a runner's body and non-bulky muscles.. He had olive-brown skin, dark-brown medium curly hair and dark-brown eyes. He wore a black fencing jacket and blue jeans. He also had on black oakley shades that rested on his head and a belt which held his fencing sabers' holsters. The 18 year old boy name was Phil Angelo.

"The dumbass is still breathing." Kazue said as two more teens joined the two, one boy and the other a girl.

"Look at this place..." The girl said as she scanned the area. "It's like a he's been here forever."

The girl is 16 years of age with light blonde hair that reached past her shoulders and is slightly wavy and her bangs swept above her eyes. She had creamy-pale skin and steel gray eyes. She had on a white button up shirt with a black skirt, which had leggings underneath. She also had on black converse and a black beanie. This girl's name is Naomi Thompson.

"By the looks of him..." The snow-white haired boy examined the unconscious Mark. "It's been about an hour since he started fighting. The guy must be a real energetic to last that long."

"Only if you knew, Shadow." Phil said, who was taking notice of the weapons on Mark. "He seemed prepared for this too. He must have been giving his group a chance to escape." Phil scanned the row of houses. "That's his house over there, we'll bring him inside and let him rest."

The teens went walked over to Mark's house, staying wary of their surrounding. As they walked, they took in what remained left of Mark's battle for survival. There were many of Them on the ground, showing no signs of ever getting up, and there were some car parts here and there, stained by a sort of an explosion. Phil assumed that Mark had taken advantage of his surroundings.

When they had gotten inside the house, Kazue lied Mark on his couch. He then took notice of the broken bokken on the table, which was next to a ruined white shirt. "I'm taking this wasn't his first time going out there." Kazue said as he picked the broken wooden sword by its hilt. "He's a bit different than before."

"What was Mark like before?" asked Naomi taking a seat in the only arm chair in the room.

"For one thing, he couldn't defend himself. He was always in a deep kind of depression. New bruises and scars would be on his arms and face, one time he couldn't even use his left arm, saying that there was something wrong with his left shoulder. I assumed that this was all his father's doing, but we were kids back than, I could stand up for him and I feared his dad. But I did what I could, defended him from these random bullies, tried to cheer him up, but I was never good at cheering up."

"Sounds like you were a real good friend to him." Phil said. "I'm going to head to the bathroom, be right back."

Phil walked to the bathroom. He sighed as he entered, acknowledging that he was alone, but not completely. "It's a good thing we made it in time." A female voice said.

Phil turned from the door to face a transparent looking girl, who looked the age of 17. She was slightly shorter than Phil. She had a slender body with white skin, a trim waistline and medium sized breasts. She also had flowing brown hair that went down to her shoulders. The angelic girl wore a sweet smile on here face as her green eyes met Phil's brown, Phil smiled in return.

"Thanks to you guiding us to him, Lane. You have our thanks." This made the transparent girl blush a bit. "So, do you know how long he'll be out?"

"Mark may be out for a day and a half. He brought himself over him limit, so he'll need a lot of rest. He should be okay after." Lane said. "After two years, he sure has changed since the last time we've seen him."

"He wasn't as selfless. He used to worry about the outcome instead of pushing them aside." Phil closed his eyes. "I still remember when we first met him with June, don't you?"

"Yes, I do..."

_**Flashback...(Three years before the present)**_

A 15 year old boy and girl were walking down a busy street while snow lightly fell from the sky. The boy had curly dark-brown hair and wore a black jacket with leather sleeves, a black flat cap and blue jeans with black shoes. The girl had brown shoulder-length hair, wearing a gray trench coat, skinny jeans and black knee boots.

The streets were full of cars as traffc went slowly by as the couple wallked along the street. The two were holding hands, engaging a conversation about the boy's work. The girl was going on about how she wanted to help, but the boy was refused to put the girl he loved in danger.

"I'm already putting myself in danger just being your girlfriend, Phil." Phil looked at the girl before sighing. "Besides, you saw me back when we first met, I can handle myself. You're just being a bit paranoid."

"I guess you got a point there." Phil said to the girl. "Fine, Lane, we'll have it your way." Phil looked away from Lane. "Those few times we argue, you always get your way." Phil laughed.

"I just know my way with words." Lane looked ahead, noticing two other people. "Hey Phil..."

"Yeah?"

"Isn't that June over there?" Lane pointed at a boy and girl up ahead.

The 14 year old boy had long black hair that he had in a low pony-tail, his long bangs almost covered his left eye. He was wearing a blue vest, unzipped, revealing the black undershirt he had on. He also wore dark-blue jeans, black sneakers, black glove and a silver wristwatch on his right hand. In his hand was black jacket, which he was handing to the girl.

The girl, also 14, had natural orange hair and sapphire blue eyes. She and the boy had just left an anime convention, which she had cosplayed for. She had decided to cosplay as Rena Ryuugu from Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, wearing a blue and white sailor fuku with a yellow ribbon, white socks and dark-brown shoes. She had even work on her hair which was short in an angled cut with long sides, her bangs parting on the left of her forehead. Since she already had blue eyes, she didn't need any special contacts to change the color of her eyes. This girl was shivering from the cold. She seemed reluctant on taking the boy's jacket.

"Come on, June, I'll be alright. I came from Alaska, I had much colder weather up there. The temperatures here during the winter is like summer for me up there." The boy said jokingly.

"But, Mark, you'll-" June started.

"You'll get sick if you don't put on the jacket. I don't want that." Mark then thought for a moment. "Then again, if you do get sick, I just do what the guy does in some animes. I'll stay by your side and help you get better."

"Eh?! No, you don't need to do that! You have to go to school!" June said as her face was flushed in embarrassment at the thought.

"School doesn't matter for me, I care more about my friend's well being." Mark said. From the corner of his greyish-blue eyes, he saw a couple walking there way.

"Hi, June, how are things going?" Asked Phil.

"Huh?" June looked from Phil to Lane. "Phil! Lane!" She gave both of them a sudden hug.

Mark gave a confused looked at the two. Lane glance over at Mark, then back to her cosplaying friend. "Is this your boyfriend?"

"Ah, no, it's not like that! He's just...We're just...umm..." June's face was all flushed as she looked from the couple to Mark then back.

"My name's Mark Kuzen, I'm...one of June's friends." Mark said a bit reluctantly.

"Hi Mark, I'm Lane Easton." Lane introduced herself with a smile.

"And I'm Phil Angelo." Phil said, offering for a handshake, which Mark accepted. Ending their handshake, Phil continued. "We're also June's friends. Lane here is my girlfriend."

"Well it's nice to meet you two." Mark said, giving the couple a small smile.

"Umm, let's head over to the cafe over there and get so hot chocolate." June said as she took Mark's jacket and put it on herself. "It's kinda cold out here."

The four walked over to the cafe that wasn't too far away from where they were. On the way, June, Lane and Phil used the time to catch up, since they haven't seen each in a while. Mark followed silently, curiosity of the three's relationship in his mind. When the four entered cafe, they took their seats around a round table with four seats. After a moment, a person came to take their order. The four just ordered a cup of hot chocolate. Waiting for their orders, Lane, Phil and June engaged into conversation.

"So you went to another convention, huh." Phil said.

"Yup, it was a lot of fun." June said.

"Is that a wig you have on?" Lain asked as she examined June.

"No, this is my natural hair color. I just fixed up my hair to look like Rena's." June told her as she ran her hand through her hair. She looked over at Mark, who was silently looking out the window they were sitting by. "You've been quiet, Mark. Are you okay?" Mark didn't answer. He seemed deep in thought. "Mark!"

Mark sighed as he looked her way. "Sorry, I just zoned out." Mark stared at June. June notice him staring and looked from herself to him, her face reddening a bit. Mark smiled. "Don't get the wrong idea, I was just thinking how cute you look." Mark stared for a moment more before bringing his attention to Phil and Lane. "So, when did you two become friends with June?"

"I met her when she and I were in the orphanage here. She was one of the few kids there I considered a real friend." Phil said.

"I met June not too long back. Like now, she was in a kind of convention, she also cosplayed for it. I don't know who she went as, but she was really cute, like she is now." Lane said. "How did you meet her, Mark?"

Mark remembered their first encounter they had with each other when he and her were in elementary school. How she was the first friend he was able to obtain when he first started school. Mark explained this to Lane and Phil, who listened in interest as Mark went on about the bond he held with June. Mid-way through, their hot chocolate came, interrupting Mark. Mark decided to stop where he was as the other sipped their hot chocolate.

"You two have quite a history." Phil said as he put his cup on the table. "Seeing as you two are so close, I'm surprised you haven't asked her out, Mark."

"No, no, no." June said. "W-we're just friends...right, Mark?" June looked at the black-haired boy.

"I would be lying if I said I didn't consider it." Mark said, looking out the window again, hiding the hint of red on his face. He then looked at his watch, sighing as he realized the time. "I gotta go, have to help with dinner tonight."

"We'll be in town for awhile, you and June should hang out with us." Lane told Mark.

"Yeah, maybe we should."

_**Two Days Later...**_

In a certain alley, there was a group of street punks surrounding Phil and Lane. All, including Phil and Lane, were armed. Phil was dual-wielding twin fencing sabers while Lane had one fencing saber. The two were on a job to take down a drug deal, but they didn't expect a large number of guards. Though the number didn't bother the two, they had single-handedly taken out a larger number of thugs, fifteen to twenty street punks and drug addicts wasn't a problem, even if they were armed.

"Remember, we leave them alive." Phil reminded Lane.

"I didn't forget." Lane told him as one of the punks charged at her with a pipe in hand. Lane smiled as she parried the man's swing and gave him a hard roundhouse kick to the his head. With that, the others went at the two. "Here they come."

Two came at Phil first, one of them had a two-yard metal chain and the other with a knife. The man with the chain lashed at phil, but Phil easily dodge and was able to get the blade of one of his sabers through one of the knotholes in the chain. Quickly putting his other saber in its holster, Phil pulled hard on the chain, making the man on the other end lung forward, going face first into Phil's elbow, then dropping to the ground. The man slowly began to get up, as he did, Phil gave him a hard kick under his chin, making the man stumble back.

The other punk lunged at Phil, knife ahead of him. Phil parried the knife after he quickly pulled his fencing saber out of the chain's knothole. After he parried the attack, Phil made a move to disarm the man, being successful. The man went to punch Phil, but Phil kneed him square in the gut, then kicked the man away from him. As the man staggered back, Phil ran and lept at a wall and rebounded off it with much force, giving the punk a hard knee to the face.

As he landed back on his feet, Phil drew out his other saber and block his front and back with both fencing sabers as two other punks tried to hit him with thin metal pipes. "You know..." Phil said, pushing off both men. "I thought all of you would be a bit of a challenge. Guess I overestimated."

As Phil was taken out his part, Lane was easily fending off her opponents. Being the best she and Phil knew at fencing and learning some hand-to-hand from Phil, Lane was not an easy opponent when it came to fighting. "Four more left." Lane said as she found herself by Phil's side. "Tired?"

"Not one bit." Phil answered, his eyes on the last four, who were different from the street punks. The last four were in suits, appearing a bit bulky. "I suggest you four go the easy way and surrender." Phil said, pointing the blade of his fencing saber at the four.

One of the four laughed. "You must be the Wanderer, heard about you from around state, going inside the core of a gang and taking them out from the inside." The man's eyes looked over. "And the good looking lass must be your girlfriend." The man laughed again. "Hey, Wanderer, how about we make a deal, we beat you and we get to take your girl for a spin! How does that sound?! Doesn't that sound fun, guys?!" The other three men start to laugh in with the first. Lane gave a disgusted look.

A serious expression was on Phil's face. "Let's see you try!"

Mark and June were walking together around the city streets. Not a day before, Mark had asked out June, who shyly accepted. There was a new awkwardness between the two since then.

The two were walking with a small gap between each other, being in their first relationship, the two didn't really know how to advance at each other. If Lain were with the two, she'd try to get the two as close as possible, then try to coach them through some things. This thought made June smile to herself, which Mark took notice of.

"What you smiling about?" Mark asked, trying to strike a conversation as he kicked up some snow from the ground.

"Just thought of something funny." June answered.

"What would that be?"

"Secret." June said, putting a finger against her lip and giving Mark a wink.

"Look at you, trying to act all cute." Mark said, ruffling up her hair a bit. Mark sighed as he let his hand fall back down, then feeling the warmth of June's skin as his hand slightly slide down her arm.

Mark smiled as he slowly wrapped his hand around hers, surprising June a bit. Her cheeks turning a bit red, June brought herself a bit closer to Mark. The two silently walked for a few minutes, they just let the moment in, feeling a bit at ease as they felt the warmth of each other's hand. Little did they know, they peaceful walk would be broken by the yelling of a familiar voice as they walked by an alley.

"Let's see you try!" Phil's voice yelled, June and Mark stopping immediately and looking down the alley way.

There stood Phil and Lane, weapons in hand or hands, surrounding them were unconscious men, and standing before them were four men in suits, laughing away at something. June immediate reaction was to run and help, but Mark grabbed her arm before she was out of reach.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked June, his eyes on the fight that was now taking place. Phil was going head to head with the four men in suits.

"We have to help him." June told Mark.

"We shouldn't get involved." Mark said.

"He's my friend!" June said as she was able to free her arm from Mark.

"What if you get hurt? What if you die?!" Mark said, fearing not only for her, but for himself.

"When you're as selfless as we are, dying isn't something worth worrying about, it's what you want to protect." June told Mark, remembering the time when Phil had told her that when they were younger. With that, she ran up ahead. "Phil!"

Mark was left standing there, thinking of what to do. '_I can't just stand here, I have to do something...but_...' Mark felt doubt in his mind. He began to argue with himself on what action he should take, until the scream of June reached his ear. Mark's head shot up to see that two of the men in suits were charging at her. "June!" Mark made a reluctant move to run, doubt still in his mind. '_Just go_!' Mark made a full run toward the two men.

Both men brought their attention towards Mark, both bringing out their knives. Mark thought about backing off from that point, but he had already gone this far. Doing what came to his mind first, Mark swept the closest man off his feet then dodged the blade of the other man's knife. After dodging, Mark sent a hard punch into the standing man's gut, knocking the air out of him. Mark then got into a quick handstand position, kicking the man gasping for air under his chin, then quickly falling back to give the man getting up a hard heel drop to his stomach. After Mark jumped back to his feet, Phil and Lain pinned down the two men to the ground with their saber, then kicking them hard enough in the head to knock them unconscious.

"That's that." Phil said, looking back at the other two men in suit, who were also unconscious. "Talk big, but they were nothing. June are you okay?"

"Yes..." June said as she sat on the ground.

"Here." Mark said, lending her hand, which she accepted. "I'm...sorry that I didn't do something quicker..."

"At least you came." June said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek, Mark blushed a bit.

"Aw, that's cute, don't you think Phil?" Lane said.

"Yeah."

_**End of Flashback...**_

"He was really interesting." Lane said.

"It feels great to be reunited with a good friend." Phil said.

"Um, Phil, someone's coming to the door, I have to go." Lane informed Phil. "I love you."

"I love you too." Phil said as Lane disappeared and a light knock came at the door.

"Phil, it's Naomi." Naomi said. "Can you hurry up in there! I need to go! And when I say go, I mean GO!"

Phil exited the bathroom and went back to the living room, where Kazue and Shadow were relaxing. Mark still lie unconscious on the couch, squirming a bit as Phil entered.

"How is he?" Phil asked.

"Fine." Shadow answered. "He's been murmuring a bit, so that's a good sign."

"That's good."

"If you don't mind me asking, what are we going to do now?" Kazue asked.

"We'll wait for him to wake up, then we'll decide."

_**End of Episode 1...**_

_**A?N: Well, that's the end of Episode 1, And Episode 2 is just around the corner. Hope you enjoyed the read. Review time!**_

_**The older groups have made it to the station, and new groups forms.**_

_**Seems like Mark made it through thanks to our new characters. We've been introduced to about seven characters: Phil Angelo, Lane Easton, Naomi Thompson, Kazue Baronage, Shadow Shan, Ari Sonten and Jared Frederick.**_

_**That ends the review...**_

_**Just to let you know, I hope to make Episode 2 a bit longer and more action filled so be prepared! More lives on the line, along with a couple more OC's!**_

_**No special guest today, unfortunately. That is all!**_

_**Keeper out!**_


	13. E2: A New Board With New Pieces

_**Episode 2: A New Board With New Pieces**_

"Where am I?" A boy muttered to himself in a void of white.

His greyish-blue eyes stared aimlessly into nothing, his body was drifting down to the emptiness that was the void. He was wearing a white dress shirt, unbuttoned all the way to reveal the white undershirt he wore, black slacks and black dress shoes. Not knowing how he had gotten to this place of nothingness, he wondered why he was there.

"This must be the afterlife...What a boring place..." The boy said bluntly.

Suddenly the boy hit something solid. The boy found himself in a seated position, his back against an invisible wall, his head hung down, making his black bangs cover his view of what was in front of him, which he assumed was nothing. After minutes of sitting, the boy made a move to get up, but, like he was before, his body was like lead. So the boy sat there like how an abandoned doll that yearns to be played with.

What felt like hours passed, the boy still sat as some of his senses were coming back to him. Excluding his sight, his hearing was the first to come back to him. With it, the boy heard foot steps of one person. When his taste came to him, he tasted copper in his mouth, then he saw a red liquid drip from his mouth...Blood. When feeling came over like a wave, a surge of pain rushed up and down his body. His body twitching a bit, he began to get his smell back. For some reason, the fragrant of roses reached his nose.

As he took in the smell, the footsteps stopped and a hand went under his chin and pushed his head up. The boy met eyes with a younger looking boy, looking of the age of 6 or 7. The kid had lonely greyish-blue eyes, short black hair and light skin. He was wearing a black hoodie, khaki cargo shorts and black sneakers. The younger boy gave the older one a faint smile.

"Who...are you?" The older boy asked, having a hard time speaking.

"It should be obvious." The younger boy said as he let the older boy's head hang again. "I mean, I am you, Mark Kuzen."

"H-how is-" Mark began.

"Maybe another name would be better." The boy said. When a name popped in his head, he put up his hood so that his eyes seemed no longer visible. "Call me Ichihiki, Ichihiki Ookami (Japanese for Lone Wolf)."

"Lone...Wolf?" Mark muttered. Mark felt somewhat drained.

"Look's like you're about to wake up..." Ichihiki said. "Until next time..."

Those being the last words Mark heard, he blacked out.

* * *

Mark shot up from his lying position, sweating a bit. He looked a himself. He still wore his black shirt and cargo pants. His military boots were still on too. The only thing that were missing was his weapons. Mark began to scan the room he was in, the first thing he notice was a girl looking at him with surprise.

The creamy pale girl had steel gray eyes and wavy light-brown hair that went past her shoulders and her bangs sweep above her eyes. She had a black beanie on her head, and was wearing a white button up shirt and a black skirt with leggings underneath. Her shoes were black converse.

"Hi." The girl said, giving him a tiny wave.

"Hi?" Mark said unsurely as he scanned the rest of the room. He was in the living room of his house. He brought his attention back to the girl. "Um, who are you?"

"I'm Naomi, Naomi Thompson. Nam is fine too." Naomi told him. "You've been out for a while now."

"For how long?"

"Almost two days." Naomi said. She looked away from Mark. "Guys! Mark's awake!"

Mark wondered how this girl knew his name, but this curious thought didn't last long as three other males entered the room, two out of the three looked familiar to Mark.

One of the boys had curly dark-brown hair, brown eyes and olive-brown skin. The boy stood at 6'4" and had the body of a runner. He wore a black fencing jacket and blue jeans, black oakley shades rested at the top of his head, and blue running shoes. He also wore a belt that had two holsters, in the holsters were fencing sabers. Mark knew this boy as Phil Angelo.

Another boy had different colored eyes, his left was a dark-green while his right was a golden-yellow, and he had black hair that went down to his shoulders, his bangs framed his face, except for one, which was set between eyes. He stood at 5'8". He had a slightly tan skin with slightly muscular body. He wore a blue zip up hoodie and black jeans. He also wore black fingerless combat gloves and green shoes. Mark knew this by Kazue Baronage, or Kaze as Mark called him.

The boy Mark didn't know had dark brown eyes and spiky snow-white hair that was a bit long. He had a lean body with pale white skin. He wore a black shirt with black pants. On his right leg was a pistol holster that held a Glock 17.

"You finally awake." Phil was the first to say.

"Took your damn time." Kazue said jokingly.

Mark's eyes went to the white-haired boy. "My name is Shadow Shan." Shadow said.

"How am I still alive?" Mark asked.

"We had to save you, of course! Why else would we be here?!" Naomi exclaimed. Mark looked at the girl for a moment. Even though this was his first meeting with the girl, Mark felt a familiar vibe about the girl.

"When you passed out, we had just made to your street. After taking out the dead, we brought you home." Phil explained. "What exactly were you doing?"

Mark thought for a moment. "Well, how I get in this mess in the first place..." Mark explained how he had left his old group to go to his house on his own, how the group went after him, and how he had almost sacrificed himself in order for the others to escape. "That about sums things up. Now I'm wondering what you two are doing here." Mark said, looking at Kazue and Phil. "I thought you moved out of the city, Phil."

"My employer sent me back here, I was suppose to meet with someone here." Phil said. "But, as you may know, the dead make things difficult."

"Your job of secrecy..." Mark sighed. "How about you, Kaze, what brings you from the Last Frontier to the Golden State?"

"To see my long lost friend!" Kazue answered. After chuckling a bit, he sighed. "But with all seriousness, I came to tell you some bad news..."

"Bad news?" Mark cocked his head. "What do you mean?"

Phil looked at Kazue. "Want me to tell him?"

Kazue shook his head. "It's June." Mark's eyes widened. "She went missing a week ago."

"What?" Mark's face showed disbelief.

"She's not the only one. A bunch of teens and adults have went missing across the country...even the world." Phil added. Then he noticed Mark's expression. "I know it's hard to take in. When Kazue told me, I didn't believe it either."

"Why'd you tell him?" Mark asked Kazue, his voice almost emotionless. Kazue knew Mark was going through a phase of depression.

"I told him because he said he was your friend." Kazue answered. "Now, stop with all this emo crap and pull yourself together." Kazue's words didn't seem to pull through.

'_I knew I shouldn't have let her go...I...I should've_-' Mark thoughts were interrupted when he realized that he was being hugged. From the corner of his eyes, Mark saw the back of a black beanie. A head rested on his shoulders and arms wrapped softly around him. A feeling of confusion was washed over with the feeling of comfort.

Naomi pulled herself away from Mark, a big smile on her face. "Better?" Mark slightly nodded. "Good."

"What was that about? You don't even know me, yet..." Mark trailed off.

"Yeah, I don't know you, I don't know this June, I don't even know what made you feel like you do." Naomi said. "But I do know when someone needs a hug, I know when someone's hurting." Naomi paused for a moment. "I also know that this June you care so much for wouldn't want you to worry, so you shouldn't. I bet you that she's out there right now, still alive and safe."

Mark stared at the girl with wide eyes. Phil smiled. "Good job, Nam."

Naomi giggled. "Thanks."

"Ready to help plan our next move?" Shadow asked.

Mark was silent for a moment before looking at the other four and then sighing. "Yeah, I'm ready."

As everyone else got comfortable for a little talk, another thought shot through Mark's head. "Phil." Phil looked at Mark. "Where's Lane?" Phil was silent, making Mark think he shouldn't have asked that question.

As soon as Mark was about to take back his question, Phil answered. "She died a year ago." Mark was caught off guard and was about to apologize. "No need to apologize, you didn't know."

With the topic now in his head, Phil couldn't help but think back to that day. Phil had just returned from a long mission, being a teenage contractor. Though he expected the warm arms of his love, Lane Easton, he found himself in shock as he was told that she had died in a car accident. But when he had examined the body for himself, the body was still in fine condition, not a scratch on her body. This made Phil suspect something else. When his employer gave him a job that may have been connected to Lane, Phil took it without a second thought. Now, the evidence he had collected had brought him back to Los Angeles, keeping his mission on the confidential side.

"Let's move away from this subject." Shadow said calmly. "Let's throw out some ideas of what our next move should be."

"Let's save people!" Naomi was the first to say.

"It's not a bad idea." Kazue said. "But definitely not the smartest. Yes, we can start saving other people lives, but it's not like we can bring them around with us and watch their back the whole time. We need to keep our numbers low. Well until we can find a place to keep people safe."

"That's where that police station comes in." Shadow said.

"Police station?" Mark said. "You mean the main police station?"

"That's the one." Phil answered. "Kazue and Shadow got information about that police station from Lain and Cassie's group, they said it was possibly the safest place. Right now, I agree. The place is surrounded by a giant metal fence, strong enough to hold back the dead. There is also a giant gate to the place, the only entrance to the station. I'm also sure that the station is near stores that will provide food if we need it." Phil looked over at Mark. "So what do you think?"

"To tell you the truth, this is like my third time talking about this." Mark said, rubbing the back of his neck. "The police station was my group goal after we checked on our families. We were suppose to go there after we went here, but...you know the rest."

"So, that's our next move." Kazue said, about to get up.

"Wait." Everyone looked at Mark. Mark had pulled out a dog-tag necklace from his back pocket. "If you don't mind, I need to do something first."

* * *

It has been almost two day since the two groups had made it to the police station. It was nearing noon, and Cassie and Alex were walking together. They were the few people that were awake. The others that were awake were either doing their own thing or Cassie nor Alex knew the person.

After washing them, Alex wore the same black and white stripped shirt with black sleeves and wrist bands, along with her black cargo pants and studded belt, excluding the chain she had on it which she took off for the noise it made. She also wore her black worn out converse. She was fingering the snake bits on her bottom lip as she walked, her shoulder-length hair was wet from her not-so-private shower, her bangs still covering the right side of her face.

Cassie's long dark-brown hair, which went down to her mid-back, was also wet from her shower. She wore a black tank-top, the white straps to her bra showing, black shorts, along with the black knee socks and red Vans she had. Her dog-tags hung around her neck and septum piercing in place.

"What do you think of the place so far?" Cassie asked Alex.

"It's crowded. Didn't expect so much people to be here." Alex answered. "At least most of them can defend themselves."

"Yeah, but most of them are either in over their head or some cocky muscle head, take them out, then we have just some decent fighters here."

"Speaking of muscle..." Alex pointed ahead as they past by the gym-like area of the lobby.

Up ahead were two teenage boys. One of them had wild black and white hair, the black part of his hair going up the back of his neck and the white part more in his frontal area. He wore a dark-blue hoodie and black sweatpants with blue Puma athletic sneakers. His tan skin had little specks of sweat as he put a white towel over his shoulder as he watched his cousin do pull-ups.

The other boy, the one doing the pull-ups, had spiky black hair. The boy was shirtless, revealing his muscular body. The boy wore black sweatpants and black and red Air-Jordans. When he noticed the two girls coming their way, he finished his set and dropped to feet and stretched.

'_Geez, these two_...' Cassie thought. "Seem like you still like to show off the body, Ari." Cassie said casually as she noticed some other girls whispering and staring at Azure and Ari. "You even got an audience watching."

"Well, people know you train hard when you look like this." Ari grinned.

"They know you train hardcore when you smell like, too." Alex said plainly, pretending to wave off a smell from her nose. Cassie and Azure chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the jokes." Ari said. "Well, I'm going to hit the shower. Coming, Azure?"

"I'm waiting on dad. Go on ahead." Azure said, tossing Ari the towel that was around his shoulders. When Ari left, Azure brought his attention to the two girls. "You two sleep well?"

"That the first thing you want to know?" Cassie said.

"Hey, it's not like that." Azure told her.

"I know, it was a joke. Catch on, Clueless Pretty Boy." Cassie laughed. "We slept fine. Wish the shower was a bit more private though, we got older women staring us down in their. It's a bit creepy."

"Did you get them to stop?" Azure asked.

"Cass yelled them out, then we left to get changed." Alex answered.

"So that was you, huh." A female voice said behind them. The three turned to face a women and a man.

The women was 35 years old, wearing a black business suit under a blazer and dress flats, including glasses that she didn't need but had anyways. She had medium cut cinnamon colored hair that was tied in a ponytail with bangs that slightly hid her light green eyes.

The man standing next to the women was 45 years old, but his body age was 25. He stood at 6'2" with tan skin, white spiky hair and red eyes, his body being in incredible shape. He wore a black aviator jacket, blue jeans and black boots. He held a pair of black sunglasses in his hand and a necklace was around his neck with the japanese character for courage carved out of jade on it.

"Good morning dad, morning Mia." Azure greeted his father, Dimitri Dragovitvh, and his aunt, Mia Sonten, Ari's mother.

"Bunch of early birds, huh." Mia said with a warm smile. "I can't believe how lively you all are too. All you teenagers just fantasize me!"

"Thank you?" Cassie said unsurely.

"I bet you would have loved Angelo's kid, he, Azure and Ari are up to par with each other." Dimitri said. "But I'm sure Azure tops both Ari and Mark, right son?"

"What ever you say, dad." Azure said with a faint smile.

"Angelo's kid, huh?" Mia thought for a moment. "I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the kiddo. Though isn't he..." Mia stopped as another voice came in.

"Dimitri..." The voice called. The group looked at a man with black eyes, short messy dark-brown hair with a short beard, and light toned skin. He had eyebags under his eyes, signaling that he didn't rest well. He was 40 years old. He wore a white shirt with short sleeves and blue jeans, along with brown leather shoes and a silver wristwatch.

"Angelo? What is it, comrade?" Dimitri asked.

"Those kids from yesterday, they haven't come back yet, have they..."

* * *

"Man, the showers sure are full..." Ari said as he left the the men's shower room, his black spiky hair was wet and flat a bit. "I wish I could have went with Jared and Joseph. Though, I wonder what's taking them, its been pass a day already and the two haven't come back."

Just the day before, two boys were sent to get supplies, their names were Jared Frederick and Joseph Allen. It's been a day since they left the station, leaving Ari at a bit of concern.

As Ari was deep in thought, he walked into someone. "Hey, what the hell?!" Ari turned to face a girl with caramel wavy hair that went to her shoulders, which was choppy and at different lengths in some spots. The girl had grey eyes and fair skin, with freckles on the bridge of her nose. She wore a red shirt and faded blue jeans with black sneakers. "God, when you just want to fix your a hair a bit." The girl said, putting her in a ponytail with a rubber band. "These rubber bands suck..."

"I'm sorry, Sayaka." Ari said.

"Best be sorry, Brawns for Brains." Sayaka said. "You're just like that dumbass you call cousin."

"Hey, don't talk about Azure like that. What did he do to you?" Ari said, seriousness in his voice.

Though the seriousness in Ari's voice did not waver Sayaka. "Nothing, Flexy." Sayaka said as should quickly glanced at Ari's muscular body. "Put a shirt on and quit the steroids!" With that Sayaka walked off.

Ari watched the girl walk off. "What a bitch..." Ari went to turn around when two figures ran past him. "Whoa!"

"Sorry!" One of the two girls yelled back at him as he looked over at them.

One of the girls had blonde hair with green and red streaks and her bangs were half green and half red. She wore a Frosty the Snowman short-sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans with green shoes. Also having on a few reindeer charms as necklaces and bracelets.

Running with the girl was a girl with jet-black hair, which were in pigtails. She had light-brown skin and D-cup breasts. She wore a white shirt and a dark blue miniskirt with white Jordan's.

"Come on, Daisy, they'll run out of pancakes in no time if we don't hurry!" Lain said to the other girl.

"Um, but-" Daisy began.

"No buts! If we don't get there in time, Katsu will probably take them before us!" Lain exclaimed.

Lain and Daisy had quickly became friends the day before. Ever since, Lain has been bringing Daisy everywhere she went, just to get to know Daisy better. The two always had something to talk about thanks to Lain. Since Daisy is real shy, Lain has made it her duty to make her new friend a bit more confident. Therefore, Lain has been introducing Daisy to her friends, new and old.

When Lain and Daisy entered the cafeteria, the place was half full. The first time Lain had entered the place, she was amazed at how much people had taken refuge at the station, and even more surprised at the amount of supplies they had to keep everyone alive. Lain and Daisy took their spot in line and waited for their turn to come. When their turn arrived, Lain was relieved to see that the pancakes were still in stock. After getting their breakfast, the two found seats with two familiar faces at a big round table.

One of them was a 17 year old boy with short, spiky black hair, his skin was slightly tanned and his body was lean and fit. He wore an open black jacket with grey tribal markings with a red under shirt with the same tribal marking on it, he also wore dark-blue jeans and black boots. His signature blue polarized goggles rested on his forehead.

The other was a 17 year old girl with ink-black hair that reached down to her mid-back in a single long braid, she also had creamy white skin and rosy cheeks, her body was hour-glass shaped and was slightly muscular from play sports. She wore her light-blue shirt that had sleeves that went down ro her elbows, light-blue skinny jeans with black sneaker. Around her neck and hidden under her shirt was her locket she had gotten from her father.

"Hi Katsu, hi Liana." Lain greeted.

"Um, hello." Daisy said.

"Hey, Cupid, Shy-Shy." Katsu greeted with the nicknames he had given them. "Was just talking Rosy here about our adventures."

"You guys sure had an interesting trip." Liana said. Liana looked at Lain for a moment. "Hey, Lain."

"Hmm?"

"Do you still think Mark is still alive?"

"Of course!" Lain answered confidently. "The guy can't die even if he wanted to."

"Why would that be?" Daisy asked as she pour some syrup on her pancakes. She heard a bit of Mark, but never knew him.

"Because I won't allow it." Lain said simply.

"Do you have a crush on Mark?" A voice asked behind Lain.

Three people took seats around the round table, one being a boy and the other two were boy had spiky black hair in the classic hero style. His skin was pale and he was very tall and had an athletic build. He wore a black shirt and black jeans with black running shoes and a wristwatch.

One of the girls had golden-like hair that went down to her lower back with long bangs on each side of her face. She had white skin and a curvy figure. She wore a red long-sleeved shirt and blue skinny jeans with red shoes.

The other girl had black hair with red streaks on her left side, her hair going down to her shoulders and the right side was shorter than the left. She had fair skin and had a lean and fit body. She wore a black tank top, blue jeans and black sneakers.

Lain looked at Hoshiko, who had asked the question. "I did like him, but I only see him as a friend now." Lain answered.

"I bet ya do." Katsu said.

"Believe what you want, I won't be tell you anything." Lain said with a smile.

"Well it seems like you do." Shao said plainly. "You're like the only one being optimistic about Mark being alive."

"If you want to meet a girl who likes him, you're asking the wrong gal." Lain said, then deciding to change the subject. "Hey, Rikio, what's on your mind? You've been quiet for a while now."

"Didn't you hear, the two that were sent out to get supplies haven't come back." Rikio said. "I hear from Mr. Suzunika that we might have to send out a few people to go search for them."

"What are you worrying about? It's not like their going to send us out their again." Shao said.

"I wouldn't mind going out." Katsu said, excitement in his voice.

"Of course you would, Katsu." Hoshiko said with a faint smile.

"The thing is, the people here are scared and wouldn't even risk going out there with Them limping around. I have a feeling that a few of us might be sent out there." Rikio said.

"Why send us? Can't the adults do things themselves? They are the adults." Liana asked.

"They'll send us because the people running this place has more faith in us teens than any of the adults, that's why they sent Jared and Joseph out their instead of other adults. Those two are loyal and trustworthy, just by meeting them, I can see their will to protect the people here." Rikio closed his eyes for a moment. "Plus, we were the only few who made it here on our own, showing how highly capable we are of surviving."

As soon as Rikio finished his sentence, a loud buzz of the prisoners intercom sounded off. "Ari Sonten and Sayaka Okasaki, report to the front desk by the prison. Come dressed and weapon ready, I repeat, please come dressed and weapon ready." With that, the intercom buzzed and turned off.

The cafeteria began to be filled with low murmurs, which made Rikio smile a bit. He had already seen this coming and wasn't surprised at all. He returned his attention to his friends and they kept their conversation going on a different subject.

* * *

On the road we two vehicles were on the highway, a white hummer and a red and black motorcycle. In the car were four people, Naomi, Kazue, Shadow and Phil. On the motorcycle was Mark. They were on the move to their new goal on which they all agreed on. Kazue was at the drivers seat in the hummer while Naomi sat in the passenger's seat and both Phil and Shadow sat in the back.

Naomi stared out her window as another section of the city became visible. "Boy, we putting ourselves in the worst situations, aren't we?"

"Doesn't sound like you're complaining." Kazue said.

"Why would I? I'm more excited than scared." Naomi said. "I was just doing some thinking, you know."

"Don't worry about." Phil said. "After this, we'll be head to the police station."

_**Flashback...**_

"What exactly do you need done?" Kazue asked Mark.

Mark stared at the dog tag in his hand. "My mom, she' still in danger." Mark muttered. "She's still locked up in the local hospital. Along with some possible survivors."

"You want to go to such a dangerous place just to get your mother, who could possibly be dead?" Phil asked.

Mark thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, if there is the slightest chance that she's alive, I'll take it."

"That's the answer I wanted to hear." Phil smiled. "So that settles it. The hummer is outside, we'll head there in that."

"Actually..." Mark said. "my motorcycles in the garage, so..."

_**End of flashback...**_

Mark kept his eyes on the road through his sunglasses. Every once and awhile, he would look back at the hummer behind him just to make sure he hadn't lost them. There was a deep feeling of happiness in Mark, having reunited with some old friends and even making new ones. He was even going to check on his mother who could be dead, but he didn't let that thought waver him.

Through all this thinking, he began to have a strange feeling about what was going to happen, as if someone was calling out to him to turn around. Listening to his will, he looked back at the hummer. The hummer was now on another lane, the horn of the car going off. Naomi stood through the sun roof, pointing at a certain spot to their right. Mark looked in that direction. In that direction was someone running from a group of Them. Mark focused on the running figure, his eyes widening as soon as he realized who it was.

The 15 year old girl in the distance had honey-brown hair that was at shoulder-length, it curled inwards around her head with long bangs that stopped above her eyes and swung to her right, also wearing a black headband. The girl had very fair skin with a slender and slightly busty body She wore a pink short-sleeved shirt and a dark pink jacket with a purple sailor style collar over the top, also wearing denim shorts with navy blue socks and red shoes.

Mark sped his motorcycle, the hummer doing the same thing. The girl took notice of the speeding vehicles coming her way. As she looked up towards th highway, she saw a motorcycle go over the railings and heading down in her direction. As the motorcycle descended, the sound of a gun rapidly firing off sounded off, bullets spraying down on the dead behind her. The motorcycle landed a few feet in front of her, the wheels screeching as the motorcycle was regaining its balance.

Mark got the motorcycle into a complete stop and looked over at the girl, his greyish-blue eyes meet ing her soft green. "Get on!" Mark yelled.

The girl nodded and ran a bit faster. The hummer came down from highway and Phil was visible in the sun roof, holding an MP5KSD. Mark smiled at his friend, his attention returning to the girl as he felt the girl sat her seat behind. A few of the dead running at the two, Mark pulled out one of his Colts and shot them down before speeding off to catch up with the hummer.

Mark glanced back at the girl he and the other had just saved. She sat a bit spacious from Mark. Mark smiled as he returned his attention to the road. "Why so stiff? You can relax now, you're safe." The girl looked at Mark for a moment before blushing a bit and leaning softly on him while sighing in relief as she wrapped her arms around him. "You know, I missed you, Ellie..."

The girl blushed a bit more. "I-I missed you too."

As soon as Mark caught up with the others, the group stopped in a safe place. Everyone in the hummer exited the vehicle. Phil, like the others, was curious about this girl. When they walked over to Mark, Mark gave them all a soft smile as the girl unwrapped her arms.

"Who 's the booby girl?" Naomi asked with curiosity.

Mark laughed. "Should I introduce you, or can you do it?"

The girl got off the motorcycle as Mark did. Keeping close to Mark, she introduced herself. "My name is Elaina Armstrong. You can call me Ellie too."

"Nice to meet you, Elaina, I'm Phil Angelo." Phil said.

"Kazue Baronage at your service."

"Shadow Shan."

"I'm Naomi, the standard of what is adorablness!" Naomi said, giving Elaina a little salute.

"Are you okay?" Phil asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for saving me." Elaina answered.

"We should find a place for you to rest up a bit, put some food in your system." Phil said.

"Ah, no, it's-" Elaina's stomach growled.

The other laughed. "It's okay, we're all hungry too." Kazue said.

"There should be a little store near by here..." Mark said, scanning the area.

"Guess when we get there, it's going to be clean up and eat up." Shadow said.

"Alright, let's go!" Naomi exclaimed. "Elaina, want to ride with us?"

Elaina looked from Naomi to Mark. "Um, I think I'll stay with Mark."

Naomi cocked her head for a moment before giggling. "Oh I see, you go do that."

When the other got in the hummer, Mark and Elaina got on the motorcycle. Mark was looked back at his friend before starting up his motorcycle. "Ready?"

"Yes..."

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**Episode 2 has begun and the pieces have been set. I hope you guys enjoyed the read and sorry for the long wait, I was in the midst of...Something. So let's go on to the Review and Question part of my little Authors note.**_

_**We have a few new characters now, and it seems the group has adjusted a bit since last time. Questions are quite simple for now. What has happened to Jared and Joseph? Did something bad happen to the two? What of Mark's mother, Sayori, is she alive? And what kind of relationship does Mark and Elaina hold? And why did Mark dream of his younger self, who goes by the name of Ichihiki Ookami?**_

_**Well that's all, now let's wrap things up with a few special guests.**_

_***Entering now, Mark Kuzen***_

_**Me: Hello, Mark.**_

_**Mark: Hey Keeper...*Mark notices the other two hooded people in the room* Who are they?**_

_**Me: Oh, those guys are just here to announce something.**_

_**Mark: Like what?**_

_**Me: *Chuckles a bit* Well, why don't we wait after you answer two questions. First question, how do you feel of the second episode.**_

_**Mark: Not that bad so far. I'm actually hoping nothing bad happens.**_

_**Me: Okay, second question. If you had an alternate version of yourself, what hair color would you have?**_

_**Mark: Um, red?**_

_**Me: Okay, that's all. You can leave now.**_

_**Mark: Wait, what?! Can't I-**_

_**Me: Just go! *Kicks Mark out of room* Okay, now about that announcement...**_

_***The two people take down hood, one of them has spiky silver hair and yellow eyes, and the other has crimson hair with greyish-blue eyes. The crimson haired boy's name is Ichihiki and the silver haired boy was Mackenzie***_

_**Mackenzie: Hi, I'm Mackenzie, we're here to announce that Keeper has been asked to take up a request SYOC story. I'm the main character, and that there is my slave.**_

_**Ichihiki: You wish...**_

_**Me: Well, it was a short announcement, Keeper out!**_


	14. E2: Shocking Reunion pt 1

_**Episode 2: Shocking Reunion pt. 1**_

_**Two years ago...**_

It was another rainy day in Los Angeles. Nearing midnight, a 13 year old girl stood under a light post, letting the rain pitter-patter on her head. She had short honey-brown hair and wore a short white trench coat along with a pink skirt with leggings underneath, also wearing a pair of sneakers.

Since she was new to the city, the girl had easily gotten herself lost while trying to find a way home. Now it was nearing midnight, and she was still out and about. She knew her parents would be worried about her, and she was even more concerned of her well being, knowing the city was dangerous at night. But she didn't know where to go, fearing that the next corner would bring more danger.

The girl's soft green eyes glanced to her left, where two men had appeared. She noticed that the men had taken notice of her and were discussing something she couldn't make out, but she knew it wasn't good as she was able to see the sinister smiles on their faces. The girl was frozen in fear. She didn't know what to do. If she had ran, the men would have probably chased after her, or worse, she could run into more people with dirty intentions.

She began to shake in fear as the men were closing in on her. As she was about to make a run for it, she felt the rain stop hitting her head and an arm pull her in. She found herself being held close to a guy with long black hair with bangs that covered his left eye, his hair in a ponytail, and greyish-blue eyes. The boy wore a thin jacket with dark-blue jeans, a rosary hanging around his neck and an umbrella in his free hand. The girl blushed a bit, finding the position they were in a little embarrassing.

The boy leaned towards her, taking the view of the other two men out of her sight. "Just go with the flow. They'll pass." The boy whispered to the girl. The girl wrapped her arms around the boy, feeling security as she did. When the men's footsteps were out of hearing distance, the boy leaned away from the girl, his eyes showing that he was tired but he wore a soft smile on his face. "That was close, wasn't it?: The boy scanned the area. "Are you lost?"

The girl nodded. "I'm new to the city so..."

"Ah, you must be that family who moved in a few days ago, my mom told me about you guys after I was released from the hospital..." For some reason, the boy's voice trailed off as he thought about his days in the local hospital. Realizing that he trailed off, the boy sighed. "I know we just met, but you're going to have to trust me." The girl gave him a confused looked. "I'm going to take you home. I know the city, so I can guide you there, if you don't mind."

"I don't." The girl simply said.

The boy smiled faintly. "My name is Mark Kuzen." Mark said.

"I'm Elaina...Elaina Armstrong."

* * *

_**Present time...**_

"Ellie?"

Elaina train of thought was popped when she realized she was being called upon. Elaina looked at Mark, who was trying to get her to focus while chewing on a piece of gum he had taken when they entered the small store. It would seem that Elaina had spaced out deeply enough for her not to hear Naomi talking to her, having Mark try to call out to her himself.

Phil and Mark were standing by the window that was nearest to where the group was sitting, which was about a few feet away. Shadow sat quietly as he listened to the others. Naomi and Kazue were telling Elaina a bunch of stories, including some that involved their hardship from a couple days ago. Mark had found himself a bit curious to why Phil was here and had begun to throw a few questions at him. But with each question was either partially answered or not answered at all, Phil's reasoning was that his mission must stay confidential unless the situation says otherwise. Mark sighed in understandment before returning into normal conversation.

"We should get moving." Shadow finally said, getting up from his seat.

"You didn't eat anything yet." Naomi pointed out.

"Not hungry. Now we've been here to long." Shadow stated.

"No need to get paranoid." Phil said as he and Mark walked up to the group. "It'll be fine if we stay here awhile, but you do have a point. We'll need to get moving, every second that passes while we're here becomes wasted time."

Kazue sighed. "Got it." He said. '_Though it only felt like thirty minutes since we got here_.'

The sun was high in the sky as the afternoon slowly passed. After a few minute, the group had stepped outside, relieved to see that none of Them were nowhere in sight. Mark had told Elaina that she should ride with the others, telling her that it may be a bit more dangerous for her to be with him on the motorcycle. Nodding in agreement, Elaina followed behind Naomi to the hummer. After a really short conversation, Mark, Phil and Kazue headed towards their respective vehicles.

The group was now back on the road. In the hummer, the layout had changed just slightly. Kazue still drove as he followed behind Mark, Shadow was now in the passenger's seat, leaving Naomi, Elaina and Phil in the back seats. A bugging thought was buzzing in Naomi's head.

"Now that he's out of earshot..." Naomi looked at Elaina. "El, do you like Mark? As in like-like, not as in like as a friend."

Elaina's cheeks reddened as she took in the question. "Ah, it's nothing like that! We're...Well..."

"Aha! I knew." Naomi began to do a little dance in her seat. "Elaina and Mark sitting a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Naomi giggled at the thought.

"Someone's a bit lively back there." Kazue said, looking at the girls through the rear-view mirror. "Tell me, Nam, how old are you?"

"You're never to old to be a kid." Naomi stated.

"An old hag acting like a brat, that'll be a sight." Shadow said bluntly. Everyone was silent.

"Goddammit, Shadow! Say your jokes with more emotion!" Kazue exclaimed. "If I could drive and choke you at the same time, I would choke the life out of you, shove some emotion into your dead body, resurrect you, then let you try that pitiful joke again."

"You two are such kids." Phil chuckled. '_It's good to see that there are still people who haven't been affected by the outbreak_.'

Phil reflected to the time back at Skyline a few days ago. When he was at the school for the time being, the outbreak had reached there. Most of the school body were already turned. Those who had survived were either trying to escape the private school, like he, Naomi and Shadow were, or they had gone completely insane. The insane were on a kill spree on both the living and the dead, it didn't matter to them as long as blood was shed and their corrupt intentions were complete. Seeing Naomi and Kazue act the way they did made Phil feel happy.

Another thought came to him as Mark appeared from the corner of his eye. He remembered that Mark was questioning him back at the store. Phil sighed to himself as he thought back to the person he was suppose to meet up with. '_Sorry Mark, I can't tell you that I came here to meet_-'

"Phil!" Naomi yelled.

"Yes?"

"Kazue won't stop teasing me." Naomi said.

'_Just like kids_...'

From the outside, Mark rode on his bike, his mind deep in thought. He began to question whether his other friends had made it to the police station, and whether his family was okay. It felt to him, that just yesterday he was hanging out with his friends and family in the world they once knew. The world where the dead didn't rise back up, where everything was more peaceful. Mark faintly smiled to himself thinking how everything felt like a far off dream.

Mark brought his attention back to reality, glancing back at the hummer behind him then returning his attention to the road ahead. In the distance, Mark found it to no surprise that the dead were beginning to appear. He then gestured to the hummer for them to keep going ahead then drawing out his katana out of his black leather sheath that was strapped over his shoulder.

Ahead was a long bridge that stood above a section of the downtown area. The bridge consisted of two side, one going one direction, the other going the opposite. On the bridge we many cars, which were either abandoned or had collided with each other. The dead was spread out on the bridge, slowly limping around mindlessly. As soon as the sound of both the motorcycle and the hummer was within earshot, the dead nearest the the group began to slowly advance their way.

Naomi was digging through the back of the hummer, where all their firearms and ammunition was. "Oh." Naomi pulled out a sniper rifle. She looked at Phil who was in a position to stand through the sun roof. "Here you go, Phil." Naomi said sweetly.

"Where's my MP5KSD?" Phil asked.

"Still back their, but I think a sniper rifle would do much better." Naomi said. Phil shrugged his shoulders and stood through the sun roof. "Shadow, do you need a gun?"

"Got one right here." Shadow answered as he drew out his Glock 17 from its holster. Rolling down his window, he brought his gun out his window and started firing at the dead.

"Okee doe." Naomi said before digging through the back for another weapon. When she found what she was looking for, she grabbed a box filled ammo and gave it to Elaina. "You hand out the ammo when we need it. I..." Naomi cocked her weapon. "Have a shotgun!" Quickly rolling down the window on her side, she brought half her body out her window, aiming down her sight, and firing at a group of Them. "Woohoo!"

Phil kept his sight focused on what was ahead of Mark. Through the scope of the sniper rifle, Phil could see a horde of Them up ahead. '_Looks like I'm going to have to clear the way for us_.' Phil focused a one of the many cars' gas tanks. When the time felt right, Phil fired, the bullet whizzing passed Mark, going through a few of Them, then causing an explosion as the bullet pierced the car.

"El, ammo!" Naomi said.

"He-" Elaina dropped the sets of ammunition as she was about to give them to Naomi. "Ah, oops..." Elaina reached for the bullets and gave Naomi the ammo. "Sorry about that."

"No problem!" Naomi exclaimed as she reloaded her gun and fired once more.

"Man..." Kazue thought as he ran over another one of Them. "This is the weirdest drive by I've ever been in."

Mark rode through the horde as he sliced through the dead and as bullets went flying past him from the hummer behind him. Mark had to maneuver through the dead and stray cars as he drove though, which would have been a difficult task if it weren't for his friends behind him.

"Almost there..." Mark muttered as blood splattered on his cheek. "Just need to push though here." Another explosion of a car blew a few feet away from him. '_Phil sure knows what he's doing_.'

When the two vehicles crossed the bridge, everyone kept their guard up, expecting the dead from every turn. But after a few turns, there wasn't as much as they had expected. The group loosened up a bit, Phil taking his seat in the back as he, Naomi and Shadow lowered their weapons. Mark had sheathed his katana and focus on the road.

Inside the car, Naomi was counting how much ammunition they had used up, smiling to when she realized they didn't waste as much as she thought. Putting the box of ammunition back in the truck, Naomi sighed and leaned back in her seat in relaxation. "Well, that was thrilling, don't you think?"

"Nam, do you find anything scary?" Kazue asked.

"I'm a girl with no fear!" Naomi exclaimed. "Put anything in my way, and I'll take it on without a second thought."

"The world needs more people like you." Shadow said while he mindlessly looked out the window.

"If it did, I think Naomi wouldn't be as special." Elaina said.

"Aw, thanks, El." Naomi said while hugging Elaina tightly.

As the two separated, the hummer made a low grumbling noise. Looking at the fuel meter, Kazue was in shock that the fuel tank was about empty. Kazue looked up ahead to see Mark in a complete stop a few meters ahead.

"Why are we slowing down, Kazue?" Phil asked.

"We're running on fumes." Kazue answered.

"Alley, 2 o'clock." Shadow said.

Kazue looked in the direction given, spotting an opening between a two story pawn shop and a two story pharmacy. With what was left in the tank, Kazue was able to get the car into the empty alley, Mark following behind. The alley had a lot of space after parking a few meters away from where they entered. The alley wasn't left untainted though. Dry blood was splattered across the wall, covering some of the graffiti. There were four bodies, each had its head bashed in. There was a door to the pawn shop in the alley.

When the group were all out, all of them headed for the pawn shop, the door, fortunately, being unlocked. Each teen was armed with a weapon. Phil had one of his sabers at the ready, Mark had his tomahawk in hand, Elaina was given a machete by Naomi, Shadow at the ready with his Glock 17, Kazue had his bo staff, and Naomi was armed with a machete of her own. When they entered, they found themselves in what they assumed was the employee's room. There was a a couch in the middle of the room, along with two arm chairs, a TV, and a counter that held a mini refrigerator and a coffee machines, along with some paper cups and the material to make coffee and hot chocolate. There was a window near the door they entered through, revealing the alley they were just in. There was also a one-way window to show what was inside the pawn shop.

The pawn shop was empty relieving the teens as they lowered their weapons. The girls took the couch as Kazue and Shadow took the two armchairs, leaving Mark and Phil to stand. Naomi had found the remote to the TV. Turning it on, Naomi scanned through the blank channels, seeing if their was any station working.

As Naomi scrolled through the channels, the boys were discussing their next move. "There was definite, we need to gas that hummer." Mark said as he looked out the window to the alley.

"There should be a gas station a few blocks away." Phil pointed out.

"But we'll need a couple canisters and a way to get back here with them." Kazue said, scratching the top of his head. "Let's not forget about the dead either."

"What about the bike?" Shadow suggested.

"The noise will attract any of Them near by." Mark said. "We don't need a whole platoon of Them on our back, we'll probably have to deal with more of Them when we get there."

Phil thought for a moment. "It's going to take while for us but we're going to have to move on foot. We'll move in a team of three, that leaves three of us to stay behind and keep this place safe." Phil said. "I'm sure there are canisters in the gas station. Two of the three will carry two canisters each, leaving one to make a path. We'll determine that person when we get to the gas station. If we get here before sundown, we should be able to make our move towards the hospital. If not, we'll stay here the night."

"Sound good, but do you think we'll be able to pull it off?" Shadow asked.

"With that kind of attitude, nope." Kazue said.

"So who going and who staying?" Mark asked.

"Well, there's going to be a lot of running and carrying, so the girls already counted out for moving out, that leaves one of the four of us to stay here." Phil said.

The boys thought for a moment on who would be staying until Mark sighed and looked at Phil. "I'll stay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then it's settled." Shadow said.

As soon as the discussion ended, the TV made a loud screeching sound and a figure of a man's head and upper chest showed on the screen. It was hard to make out the features of the man, but it was obvious it was a man. Everyone was silent and focused on the screen of the TV.

"Hello." The man said, his voice husky-like. "I am broadcasting from a station in the city of Los Angeles. If any of you are watching this, listen closely. As you may all know, the dead are walking about and taking lives as we speak. I'm here to inform you of some information I have gathered on the subject. This 'disease' is spreading worldwide, many countries are facing the same situation we are, how this all began...I don't know. I'll be looking into the subject of how this all started and how to stop it. I'll update weekly on anything I find out. I'll also let you all know of any safe place, if any, that you should all head to. But be cautious, the dead isn't the only thing to worry about..." The man paused as if in deep thought. There was a clanking noise and a bottle of alcohol appeared on the screen. The man took a sip before muttering something under his breath. "Anyways, just be prepared to hear from me next week."

The screen turned blank, leaving the group in wonder. "Who was that?" Naomi asked.

"I need to make a phone call." Phil said, excusing himself into the pawn shop.

Mark was in curiosity of the identity of that man was and why had Phil needed to call someone, thinking that the two were somehow connected. Mark shook his head as he thought that it may have been connected to Phil's job. He focused back to the man. The identity of the man bothered him. The voice the man had sounded too familiar to him, but he couldn't put a face to it.

Mark's train of thought was broken as he felt a tap on his shoulder. Mark looked to his side and down at Elaina. "Are you okay?" Elaina asked.

"Yeah…I'm fine, Ellie." Mark said.

"Okay then." Elaina said. "But when you're ready, tell me what's bothering you."

Mark looked at the girl as she walked away to join Naomi on the couch. He put his hand to his forehead at realizing he should have talked to her. Mark noticed Kazue looking at him, and had the urge to tell him to "Shut up" knowing what his friend was thinking.

Phil came back into the room, sighing as he entered. "You talk to who you needed to?" Naomi asked.

"No, they didn't answer." Phil said. "Let's focus on getting that gas."

After a few minutes of preparation, Phil, Kazue and Shadow were ready to head. When the three left, Naomi, Elaina and Mark sat in the room with a blank TV. Naomi found it boring to just sit around, wishing she was with the other three on their adventure. Elaina sat next to Naomi, listening to her go off about wanting to go and how boring it was. Mark sat in one of the two armchairs, sipping on a cup of hot chocolate. He was silently contemplating on life before the outbreak.

As Mark was getting deeper into his past, his train of thought was once again broken. "Hey, Mark, how did you meet El?" Mark stared at Naomi for a moment, giving off a sign of wondering why she was asking him and not Elaina. "She won't tell me. She seems kind of embarrassed about it."

Mark scratched the top of his head and smiled. "Well, I guess a short story is good to pass the time." Mark got comfortable in his seat. "Now if I remember right…we met at that one night two years ago, right?" Mark looked over at Elaina, who nodded with a blush. "I was walking around town during the night, trying to get my mind off some problems I had. When it was nearing midnight, I turned from a corner of the street and saw this pretty girl standing under a light post in the rain. I remember how frightened she looked. I noticed the two men walking her way, noticing the sick intentions in their eyes." Mark sighed. "Umbrella in hand, I walked over to the girl and wrapped one of my arms around her and brought her close to me, as if we were a couple. When the men passed, I let her go and we had a little talk of why she was out so late. After that, I walked the girl home. Parents were worried sick about her..." Mark paused. "That as far as I can explain without going into full detail."

"O-M-G!" Naomi put both her hand on Elaina's shoulders and started shaking her, almost violently. "Lucky girl you! Why didn't you tell me that's how you met!"

While Naomi was yelling at Elaina, Mark excused himself from the room and into the pawn shop itself. He looked down at the dead phone in his hand. He had decided to try and see if there was a charger for his phone, in hopes to get in contact with his other friends, or maybe even his mother.

While searching for a charger, Mark had found various other things, like silencers for the guns they had and wireless headsets they could use to communicate. Mark was able to find a charge until he reached the second floor. He sighed in relief before looking around the room. Mark noticed a door in the corner of the room. Walking over to it, Mark turned the knob and entered a staircase that lead to the roof.

As he got onto the roof, an idea popped into his head. Mark ran down to the first floor, grabbing one of the silencers and a few of the headsets. As he entered the room, he found Naomi nibbling on Elaina's ear, Elaina pleading for her to stop. "Naomi, stop! Mark's here!"

"Not until you tell me!" Naomi said as she nibbled on.

Mark decided to ignore the situation and give Naomi and Elaina a headset and running to the hummer to grab the sniper rifle. Attaching the sniper rifle, Mark made his way to the roof and turned on his headset. He facepalmed as he heard Elaina still struggling with Naomi.

"You two done?" Mark asked.

There was a slight silence before Naomi spoke. "Just a bit longer, I think she's about to tell me."

'_Is this what girls do when their bored_?' Mark questioned in his head.

* * *

"The gas station's clear." Shadow said as he finished off the last of the dead in the station. His snow white hair had a bit of blood on it as he came to open the door for the other two.

Phil entered, rubbing the back of his curly dark-brown hair, Kazue following behind. "You sure did a fine job cleaning up the place." Kazue said.

"When it comes to Them, keeping things clean isn't a real concern."

The station was a mess. The small snacks and candy were either raided or on the bloody floor, giving the three a sign that there were others who were here. The refreshments were fresh out too. There was many of Them in the room, all with their heads bashed in, thanks to the boy in fully black clothing. Luckily for the group, there were enough canisters in stock.

Heading back outside with four canisters, Phil began to think on how they would get the gas. "Don't you need to pay to get the gas?" Phil said.

Kazue laughed. "No problem, I can rig the damn thing." Kazue said, a somewhat evil smile on his face.

"You can do that?" Shadow said.

"Just watch."

After a few minutes, Kazue was able to get the gas pumping. After a few more minutes, the three had four full gas canisters, Kazue and Shadow carrying two each, leaving Phil the one to make the path. The three had to avoid a few streets they took, considering how much of Them were infesting the area.

"Can't get a break..." Shadow said.

"Anyone else think the trip to the gas station was faster." Kazue said.

Phil had his eyes on the sky. The sun was setting behind tall buildings, signaling that night was coming. "We have to keep moving." Phil said. Each street was infested with more dead than there was before. '_Damn, where did all of Them come from_?"

The three entered an alley, which had a few of Them. Phil gestured to the other two to take this path. Taking the lead, Phil drew out both his fencing sabers and started slicing down any of the dead that got in the way. When they neared the end, Phil had just parried one of Them and impaled it in between the eyes. As he stepped out of the alley, a bullet went wizzing past his face and hitting one of Them in the head, which blew to tiny pieces.

Phil looked in the direction of where the bullet came from and saw the pawn shop. On the roof stood a figure holding a sniper rifle. Phil also noticed the dead that was in between them and the shop. Phil smiled as he made a running start for the pawn shop, Shadow and Kazue following close behind. Phil's attacks were quick and effortless as he beheaded and impaled the dead that got in his way. When more of Them were being shot down, Phil had assumed that Mark had a silencer on the sniper rifle as the gun had hardly made a sound.

As the three entered the alley with the vehicles, there was sudden gunfire coming from where they ran. Naomi popped her head out the window and gestured for the three to come in. Reluctantly, the three entered the shop, setting the gas canisters down.

"What's going on?" Phil asked. Naomi handed each of the boys a headset. Turning his on, Phil heard Mark take a shot. "Mark, what's going on out there?"

"It's Azure and a few others."

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**Well, another chapter is up and less things off my back, Whew... Well anyways, I hoped you enjoyed, fellow readers. Now, Review time.**_

_**Mark's group have already seemed to get along pretty well, and are bonding...well, in their own special way. We now know how Elaina and Mark met too. We even have a few more mysteries on our hands.**_

_**We have the mysterious man who showed up through the television. Why would he try to help other survivors? Does he have some kind of connection to the outbreak? And why does Mark find the voice of the man fairly familiar? Did he have some kind of relationship with him? Who is this man?**_

_**I don't know...**_

_**What about Azure and the teens he's with? Why have they suddenly shown up? Will they hopefully meet Mark and join him on the journey to the local hospital?**_

_**Again, I don't know. Why are you asking all these questions?**_

_**...**_

_**Well, that's it for review time. I'd like to let you all know that I'm on the verge of starting a new HSOTD fic. I'd just like to put out a question of which kind. Should I do a story based on the original group or should a I go for another OC story? I was asked to do a request story on one or the other, and I wasn't really sure which to do. So please leave it in the reviews. If you have any questions on this fic or the on anything just PM me about, I like making new anonymous friends, helps make the world go round, if you know what I mean.**_

_**Keeper Out! **_


	15. E2: Shocking Reunion pt 2

_**Sorry for the long wait folks, finals were quite troublesome. When you finish this chapter, please read the author's note at the bottom, important info there. Also, just let you know, I'm going to do another OC story, so prepare youselves! Now go on! Read!**_

_**Episode 2: Shocking Reunion pt.2**_

"Why the hell was I called here?"

A girl with caramel wavy hair that was put up in a ponytail stood with her arms crossed, an expression of annoyance on her face. The fair skinned girl looked from the first boy to the other with her grey eyes. She wore a long sleeved black shirt and and dark-blue jeans, along with the same worn out black sneakers. Around her neck was oval-shaped locket that held a picture of her family before her step-father stepped in. On one side of her jeans, in a belt hoop, was a sheath for her katana. The same when for another belt hoop, bu this one held her spatha.

"No need to be annoyed about the situation Sayaka, I asked for you and Ari to assist me on this task." Said a boy with wild black and white hair. The boy wore a black hoodie with blue fire designs and a blu dragon design on the back of it, black cargo pants, which hold clips of ammunition in it pockets, and a necklace was worn around his neck, the word, "Hope", was carved in kanji on sapphire. On his right leg, a gun holster was there, holding his Makrov.

Sayaka gritted her teeth. "Who made you leader? Dumbass."

"Watch how you speak to Azure." Said the other boy with spiky black hair. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black cargo pants with red fire designs, also wearing red Air-Jordans. He also wore his father's dog-tags around his neck. His bo staff was in his hand, a red dragon design coiling up it.

"Like I give a damn on how a talk to him."

Azure stared at the only girl in the room, curiosity in his mind. Shaking his head, he looked towards his cousin. "Don't mind her, Ari, she's just like that. Probably part of her feminine charm."

'Don't go off thinking you know me, Dumbass." Sayaka said.

A door to the room opened and a man entered. He ran his hand through his short messy dark-brown hair. He had on a white shirt and blue jeans, including brown leather shoes and a silver wristwatch. Under his black eyes were eye bags.

"Mr. Suzunika."

"You're all here." Angelo muttered as he looked at the three before him. "I'll brief you all in in a moment, we're waiting on another girl."

It didn't take to long for the girl they were waiting for to come. A girl with black hair and purple dyed tips, which went down to her shoulders and was pinned straight, but still spiked up in random places, her bangs covering her right side of her face. Her smokey grey eyes stared boringly at her friends. She wore a black and white striped shirt with an oversized black hoodie over it, which devoured her small frame and covered her hand, and dark-red skinny jeans with a studded belt, also wearing black worn-out combat. She wore purple headphones on her head, music playing as she entered, and wore an Irish Pendent on a choker, which was given to her by her mother.

Turning down the music and putting the headphones around her neck. "Hey." Alex greeted.

"Coming along?" Ari asked, Alex nodded.

"She persisted on coming." Angelo said. "She and I had very similar goals on the next move we'll make, but first..." Angelo sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "We have Jared Frederick and Joseph Allen to worry about. The two were sent to retrieve supplies yesterday, and haven't returned yet."

"Any idea to how this happened?" Azure asked.

Angelo looked mindlessly at the ceiling before looking at the four teens. "Unfortunately, I do." Angelo said. "I sent them on a little side mission. My wife..." Angelo looked at Azure. "Your mother too...They're stuck in the local hospital in the city." "Sighing, Angelo continued. "I told Jared to find a safe route to the hospital my wife is in. They may have ran into problem. They do have a radio on them, but the radios in the communication tower are out, we have Mia working on them right now."

"You want us to blindly search for these two? Do you think we have a fucking tracker on these guys?!" Sayaka said, irritation in her voice.

Angelo looked Sayaka. "I know it doesn't seem like a good idea-"

"No shit, Sherlock."

Angelo sighed. "But it's better than doing nothing. Besides, there aren't that many routes to the hospital from here, so it won't take a long if you four take a car..."

"I think we understand the situation." Ari said. "If you don't have anything else to tell us, then we'll be on our way."

"There is one thing." Angelo said. "After you get Jared and Joseph back here, I'll have another set of people go with you to the hospital." Angelo closed his eyes. "We will then be Operation Rizuka."

* * *

"Put this here, put that there..."

Out in the hallway, a girl with tri-colored hair was setting up a trap for her amusement. Lain had grown a bit bored, so when Daisy said she was going to change, Lain had taken that as an opportunity to set a little trap up.

She clapped her hands together as she finished her piece of work. "It's a bit trivial to my more advance contraptions, but it'll do."

Lain noticed a figure coming her way, smiling to herself as she realized who it was. Katsu came whistling down the hallway. Lain had called for him, all being part of her little plan. She waved over to Katsu, doing her best to act normal. Katsu nodded towards, a big grin on his face. She waited until Katsu was just a few feet away from her, where he unknowingly snapped a thin string. Projectiles started flying at Katsu. Katsu was able to keep his cool as he maneuvered through the flying objects. While Katsu was distracted, which was the main point of the projectiles, Lain slightly opened Daisy's door. Soon enough, Katsu dodged rolled into Daisy's door, which flew open as he rolled in.

The first thing Katsu saw when he stopped rolling was Daisy, panty on and bra barely on her. Daisy's face began to quickly flush has Katsu stared at her figure. "Hello." Katsu said simply.

"Eeek!"

_**Moments later...**_

Daisy founf herself sitting between both Lain and Katsu. Daisy face was still flushed and would glance over at Katsu every now then. Lain was still laughing off the incident, while Katsu acted like his usual self.

"So, you like what you saw?" Lain said, looking at Katsu with a smile on her face.

Katsu sipped down some of his soda. "Not gonna lie, Shy-Shy here has a nice body. Next to that, she's real cute too." Next to him, Daisy was trying to hide her face as her face reddened. "Hey, why don't you look at that. Hey, Prez! Vice!"

Rikio and Hoshiko were walking together, holding hands. Hoshiko was blushing a bit as the two came closer to the others. When both took a seat, Rikio was the first to speak. "They sent out a search team. Azure, his cousin, Sayaka and Alexandra are being sent out right now."

"Damn, I wanted to go..." Katsu said.

"You'll get your chance." Hoshiko said. "To tell you the truth, I was itching to get out of here myself." Hoshiko then noticed Daisy. "Daisy, what's wrong?"

Lain burst out in laughter again. After giving her moment to calm down, Rikio asked her what was funny. Lain explained what she did to Daisy and Katsu. At the end of her explanation, Rikio just chuckled before he felt a tap on his shoulder. Hoshiko, being the one who tapped on him, pointed towards two men, Angelo Suzunika and Dimitri Dragovitch. Both men were walking their direction.

Once a few feet away, Dimitri's red eyes stared down the group of teens. "Which one of you is Rikio Hiroshi?"

"That would be me." Rikio said, standing up.

"You've been assigned to Operation Rizuka, along with Delainey Shallows." Dimitri informed both Rikio and Lain.

"You have one day to prepare." Angelo said. "Once morning comes, you're out."

* * *

Driving down their second route, the search team were still on the look out. Sayaka drove as she did her best to not get involved with the other three. In the passenger's seat was Azure, who was responding to one of Ari's questions. Ari and Alex sat in the back, Alex giving the boys short responses as they tried to involve her.

"You girls sure are...'lively'." Ari said.

"Maybe it's because you guys aren't interesting." Sayaka said, finally speaking.

"I'm just trying to get other people involved." Azure sighed. "I know you and Alex don't want to listen to me and Ari go on about our training and interests."

"I would rather have it that you two didn't talk at all." Sayaka said.

"Just lighten up a bit." Alex told Sayaka.

"I'll lighten up when you start opening up!" Sayaka yelled.

'_Geez, someone has a short fuse_...' Ari thought.

"Now, no need to-" Azure caught something from the corner of his eye. "Over there!" Ari pointed at two teenage boys in the distance. One of them was supporting the other, who seemed a little limp.

Sayaka sped towards two. One of the boys glanced back behind them and started firing a pistol. Soon after, They appeared. There was an amount of seven of Them, an easy amount to kill off, but the teens seemed worned, as if they have been on the move none stop. The limp looking boy's head slowly looked in their direction. He pointed at incoming car as the boy supporting looking in the car's direction too. The boy gestured for them to drive away, confusing Azure.

"Stop the car!" Azure said, Sayaka hitting the brakes.

"What the hell! Isn't that-"

"Yes, it is Jared and Joseph, but-" Azure stopped as he saw more of Them appear from out of an alley. "Damn..." Azure thought for a moment, but was interrupted as he heard the back door of the car open and shut. Alex was standing out, cocking her Glock 1911. "Alex, what are you doing?"

"Going on foot." Alex said, running towards the direction of Jared and Joseph.

"Wai-" Ari began before Sayaka herself left the car, unsheathing her katana and following behind Alex. "Great, there goes the driver..."

"Let's go." Azure said, Ari nodded.

Everyone was chasing after Jared and Joseph. Azure was armed with ninjatos, Ari with his bo staff. Being the last ones to exit the car, the cousins had to take another alley separate from the one the others were in. They could hear the sound of gunfire from the others. As they came out of the alley, they were welcomed by the dead.

From the corner pf his eye, Ari noticed a boy with tan skin and sandy-brown hait that was gel'd in the front and combed over to his left. He wore a tight white undershirt with a deep black jacket over it, zipped halfway. He also wore loose dark-blue jeans and flamboyant dark blue tennis shoes with orange stripes on the side. He had a Glock 19 in his free hand. His other arm was supporting another boy.

The other boy had black short, tidy hair, light tan skin and dark green eyes. He was slim and a bit muscular. The boy wore a black shirt, dark grey jeans and white Reebok sneakers. He was unarmed and seemed to be in really bad shape.

After came Sayaka and Alex. Alex was firing back at the dead behind them while Sayaka began to slice down any of Them that came near the group. Ari and Azure went to Jared and Joseph's side, Ari offering Jared to let him carry Joseph.

"What happened?" Azure asked.

"He took an explosion head on while trying to help us escape." Jared said as he gave Joseph to Ari. "Suprised that he still in a good condition, but the damage is still taking in it toll on him."

Joseph began to cough roughly. "Be...hind..."

"Wha-"

A bullet whizzed past Ari and Joseph, hitting one of Them in the face. "Stay focused, guys!" Azure yelled as he joined Sayaka in defending the others.

"Hold my staff for now.' Ari said, handing Jared his bo staff. Ari then scanned their surroundings. "Azure! We can't head back! There's a bunch of Them grouping there!"

"No choice but get pass these ones." Alex said as she fired a few shots at the dead. "Ari, stay behind me and Jared."

The group began to take a new route to get back to their car. Both Jared and Alex took the front as Sayaka and Azure defended the back. The group moved along slower than they wanted to, due to the injuried Joseph. Soon the group came to a street that had a few freshly killed corpses. The corpses either had a deep piecing hole in their head, or had their head blown off.

Not long after, Joseph slipped through Ari gripped, falling to the ground. "Joe!"

Ari went to pick him up, but Joseph swatted him away. "Just...go!" He managed to say as he pulled an object out of his pocket.

"We're not leaving you behind!" Ari said.

"Damn it! Just get his ass off the ground!" Sayaka yelled.

"Sayaka!"

One of Them was about to lunged at Sayaka. Sayaka wasn't able to react fast enough and Azure was just about to pull out his pistol. Before the living corpse could get a bite on her, the top of the corpse's head was blown off.

"Wha-?"

"Over there." Alex pointed to a figure standing on top of a pawn shop, holding to what they took was a sniper rifle.

"Who is that?" Azure squinted his eyes to try to see if he could see him better. He could make out the boy's black hair and black clothing. '_That can't be_-'

"Who are they?" Jared said.

Running in their direction, Two boys and one girl were coming to the fight, weapons in hand. One boy had dark-brown medium curly hair, armed with two fencing sabers. Another boy had boy had black hair that was shoulder length, his bangs framing his face and one set of bangs between his eyes. He was armed a black bo staff with metal ends. The girl had light blonde hair that reached past her shoulders and was slightly way, her bangs swept above her steel grey eyes. She was armed with two machetes.

"Phil..." Azure muttered.

"Get a move on!" Phil yelled as he jumped in front of Azure's group and taking Them head on. "Kazue, Naomi!"

Phil moved swiftly as he attacked, Kazue covering Phil's openings with his own attacks. Kazue then lept back to support Naomi, who was handling herself quite well. After another strike to a corpse's head, a bullet flew past Phil and blew off the jaw of one of Them, sending it flying sideways into a car.

"Let's go!" Sayaka yelled.

"Joseph, let's get moving." Jared said as he gave Ari back his bo staff, then offered Joseph a hand. Joseph put the object he pulled out back in his pocket before letting Jared support him.

As Azure and his group made a run for it. Azure looked at the roof of the pawn shop, which was coming closer and closer after each step. To his disappointment, the boy standing on the roof was not who he thought it wsa. The boy had snow white hair and black clothing.

'_I thought..._' Azure shook his head before continuing forward.

Back with Phil's group. Kazue was smiling with a sinister expression, his dark-green and golden yellow eyes giving off a silver appearance. Looking the dead surrounding himself and Naomi, Kazue couldn't help but laugh in enjoyment. "Looks like the trash learned how to play."

Naomi looked at the boy with a smile. "Well, let's do what we do best." Naomi and Kazue got themselves ready to charge. "Time to take out the trash!" Both teens charged at the dead in opposite directions.

Phil side-stepped to dodge a lunging corpse. He then quickly stabbed the one that lunged at him and the one that was about to come at him from behind with his other saber. As he pulled back both sabers, another boy cut his way through the crowd, katana in hand.

"You're late." Phil said.

"It's kinda hard to hide the fact that I'm alive." Mark told Phil.

"Hide?"

Mark was silent for a moment. "I don't want them to know I'm alive yet..."

* * *

"Hurry, we're almost there!" Azure yelled. "Sayaka and I will hold them off. Go!"

Alex, Ari, Jared and Joseph made their way to the car. The rate of speed they were going at was slow, Jared having to support Joseph. As they were about halfway to their destination, Joseph slipped through Jared hold like he did with Ari's. He then pulled the object he had in his pocket out again.

"Joseph, what are you-"

"Back off!" Joseph yelled as he showed the bomb to Jared and the others.

Jared looked at Joseph with wide eyes. "Joe, what are you doing?"

Joseph struggled to his feet. "I'm just being a burden you guys." Joseph said. "Even...if you think otherwise, I know I am."

"Don't talk like that, just come with us." Ari said, taking a step forward.

"Not a step closer!" Joseph yelled. "I'm wearing a C4 vest under my shirt. Once this thing goes off, just hope you aren't in the radius of the blast!"

With the rest of his strength, Joseph made a sprint for a building. Azure took notice of this as He and Sayaka were running back to the group. Not knowing Joseph had a bomb on him, Azure ran to the building Joseph was in, Sayaka following behind him.

Inside the building, Joseph sat on a counter, a radio by his side. Thinking the sound would attract most of Them to him, he turned on the radio, having it on maximum volume, he let the music play. His thumb rested gently over the button that would detonate the bomb in his hand. He was muttering a prayer to himself, and as he opened his eyes, he was ready to push. As he began to push down the button, the door flew open.

"Jo-" Azure didn't get to finish as the explosion pushed both him and Sayaka back.

The two-story building that held Joseph collapsed and the dead around got sent flying back.

"Azure! Sayaka!"

_**To Be Continued...**_

_**That's the end of this chapter. Again, sorry for the long wait, school can be real troublesome**_ _**at points and times, but hey, the good news is that it's summer break for me and I'm free from my shackles. Now, review time.**_

_**New things keep popping here and there, huh. After Azure's group left, both Rikio and Lain were assigned to Operation Rizuka. Also Azure was able to find Jared and Joseph, and, along the way, met Mark's group, but they don't know about that. But even when good things were happening, Azure's group has already come to losing an ally, Joseph Allen.**_

_**Now that leaves us with a few things at question. Why doesn't Mark want the others to know he's alive? What happen to Azure and Sayaka? Will Operation Rizuka go out well?**_

_**That's all for review time. Now on to advertising.**_

_**I'd like you all to know that I'm co-authoring for both Lazersword88 and Evolution Neya. It's a fun job and you make new friends along the way. Anyways, let's get on with those advertisments.**_

_**I know some of you may have heard of the fic, Dead Delinquents: A SYOC Experience by Lazersword88. This is one of the stories I'm co-authoring. For those who haven't heard of it, the fics is about twenty inmates in a juvinile prison surviving the apocalypse. The prison staff has taken any weapons that would have been great to use during the apocalypse, like katana's and firearms. So this puts the inmates in the ultimate survival situation. Lazerword and I will be working hard on this story and we plan to make it the next Time Trax of the DEAD (Which, by the way, is another awesome story). Though we haven't put a chapter up yet, we will be very soon, that's a promise**_

_**Next up is from our new and one of my favorite writers, Let's Survive by Evolution Neya. This fic is about a couple students on a class trip to the temples of Kyoto. The first chapter was really good and interesting, it keeps you on edge the whole time. Even though it hasn't been updated yet, I got info from a very reliable resource (Right, Ari-chan?).**_

_**Read these stories! Favorite them! Follow Them! Review Them! Do anything you can to support them!**_

_**With that said...**_

_**Keeper out!**_


	16. E2: Just One of Those Days

Before we start this chapter, let me give the time to do some shout out! I'll explain my absence at the end of the chapter...

A new SYOC story has made it's way to the HSOTD section, and it's being written by none other than myself! (Also being co-authored by Lazersword88) What is this story you ask. This story is made of many mysteries, the undead, and it even has the original cast of HSOTD, including the ones from the Manga, for those who've read it. This story goes by the name of: The Enigmatic World. I'm currently still building up the cast and already posted what I have so far. I'm still looking for more OC's, so go check it out and PM me an OC!

Two stories, one author. Dancing Through Flames and Dead Delinquents, both stories by Lazersword88, have been updated. 2 of 3 parts of the finale to the Cooper Arc has made it's way on Dancing Through Flames. I was quite interesting and greatly written, even my OC, Mark Kuzen, makes an appearance. Dead Delinquents has also introduced three characters of its cast, Jack Orwell, Adam Conway and Ai Shiku. I'm not going to spill any spoilers for it, so if you wan to know what happened, go on and read it!

Lastly, I like to make a shout to a story that I think beens out of service for quite some time, but is finally making it's comeback. Dead Lines by Maverick7481 has finally returned, and if you love Katsu in this story, then read Dead Lines, the story of which Katsu originated from. The story is a good mix of humor and seriousness, and once you stat reading, you can't stop.

That's all, on with the story!

_**Episode 2: Just One of Those Days...**_

"The moon's out." Elaina said as she peered out one of the windows to the pawn shop.

It was hours ago since Phil and the others went to help Azure's group escape from a horde of Them. After Azure's group was able to escape from the horde, Mark had joined in to assist the others. Not to long after, an explosion sounded off a few blocks away. Kazue and Naomi went to check on it, and both returned telling the group that a building had collapsed due to what they knew was an explosion.

Now the six member group was settling for the night in the pawn shop. The members of the group were scattered in the pawn shop. Phil sat alone on the roof, telling the others that he needed some fresh air. Kazue and Shadow were on the second floor, both discussing the events that took place during the day. Elaina stood alone on the first floor as she stared mindlessly out the window. Mark and Naomi were in the Employee's Only room, the two engaging in random conversations that came to Naomi's mind.

Phil stood on the roof of the pawn shop, patiently waiting as the night breeze blew over him. As he waited, he was in deep thought about the reason he was brought back to Los Angeles. As he was thinking, the slightly cold air began to feel warmer. Phil smiled to himself before he turned to face a girl with brown hair, which flowed down to her shoulders. Her white dress seemed to glow in the midst of the dark of the night.

Phil looked into the girl's glowing green eyes, feeling more relaxed as he did. "Hey Lane." Phil said with a smile on his face. Lane smiled back.

"You seem troubled, Phil." Lane said with concern in her voice.

"How can you tell?"

Lane walked up to Phil, her face just an inch away from his. "Because I'm your girlfriend." Lane said. "And you never greeted me with just a 'Hey Lane' before."

Phil looked up at the full moon as it shined down on them. "Tell me something, Lane, is everything I'm doing worth anything? I keep telling myself that everything will end well. That my friends and I can pull through this apocalypse, that I'll find who ever messed with my-No, our life, and if somehow possible, bring you back into my arms and feel those soft lip on my own." Phil closed his eye as his head tilted downward, avoiding eye contact with the girl just an inch away from her face. "But life being life with the unfairness it gives people, what if this was all for nothing?"

Lane giggled softly. "Phil, you're not the one to play the doubtful." Lane rose one of her hands to Phil's cheek, knowing that she couldn't physically touch him, but at least let him feel the warmth of her presence. "Be the man I love and keep your head up high. And even if this whole thing was in vain, I'll always be by your side..." Lane's hand slid down Phil's cheek, down his neck and over his heart. "Right here."

Phil was now looking at the brown haired girl in the face as he smiled softly at her. Her ability to rekindle the fire in his heart was one of the many reasons he loved the girl standing before him.

After moments of silence, Phil finally spoke. "Let's enjoy this night together."

"Yes, let's!"

* * *

"Is that all there was? A giant pile of building? Didn't you or Naomi consider searching the rubble?" Shadow asked.

"Why would we? There would be nothing worth searching for. And if we're talking about survivors, I don't think anyone could have survived that, don't you think so too?" Kazue said. "I'm sorry if I'm sounding a bit cold...I'm just tired."

"We're all tired." Shadow said. "What ever this is, we're all tired of it. Even if it had just started a few days before. In those few days, lives have been taken left and right..."

Kazue looked up at the ceiling. "Doesn't it make you wonder though?" Kazue said. "It feels like this all just happen in a matter of seconds. One moment I'm walking down the streets of the city, looking for an old friend, the next I'm three strangers, trying to make my way through a city filled with the undead." Kazue sighed as he looked down on a few items near him. "Makes me feel robbed. I had so much plans for myself."

"What exactly were they?" Shadow asked, slightly interested.

Kazue thought for a moment before running his hand through his black hair. "First, after I finished school stuff, I would move out the mansion I live in, and into a normal house."

"You live in a mansion?" Shadow said, figuring that Kazue was making it up.

Kazue smiled smugly. "Yeah, it was one of the things my parents left behind for me before they died. I'm an only child of two millionaires." Kazue said, laughing after.

"You're bluffing." Shadow said as he leaned back on the wall, crossing his arms.

Kazue laughed more. He knew that there was a chance that Shadow wouldn't believe him. No one that wasn't from his hometown would believe him, but nevertheless, it was all true..

Kazue Baronage is the only son of Mamoru and Yukie Baronage, millionares in Alaska. Mamoru and Yukie were a very caring and supportive couple, donating anything they could to help the people in need and supporting groups and projects they think will help the wellbeings of others. Not to long after Kazue's birth, Mamoru and Yukie had mysteriously disappeared. A year later, their deaths were confirmed as they're bodies were found on the west coast of Alaska. By the conditions of both bodies, it seemed that they were alive just a day or two before they were found.

Now that his parent's deaths were confirmed, many were up for adopting Kazue and gaining the fortune that came along with him. But that wasn't going to happen, thanks to a mysterious man who was made guardian to Kazue through the will of his parents. Kazue has never met this man face to face, but his guardian gave Kazue signs that he was there, who else would have been paying for his school and his family's land and business.

Kazue sighed. "I'm not lying. Hasn't my last name hit you hard enough in the head yet?" Shadow just stared at Kazue. "Baronage! Doesn't that ring any bells?!"

Shadow gave it thought. "Baronage...Baro-" Shadow paused. "Oh, that's right, Mamoru and Yukie Baronage. You must be their only son."

Kazue shook his head. "Damn, people seem to be more forgetful these days."

"So why does a millionaire want live in a normal house rather than a mansion, where you have everything you could possibly need?" Shadow asked.

"Money doesn't buy happiness..."

* * *

Elaina twirled her finger around the end of her honey-brown hair. She stood alone as she stared out the windows of the pawn shop. She was in thought of the events that had taken place before Mark and the others had found her. She was slowly questioning on whether should follow her heart and tell Mark what she had saw and was told, or listen to the man that told her not to tell.

She put her hand up to the glass of the window she stood behind, trying to find the answer herself. Normally, she would be one to follow her heart, including when it came to the boy she loved, but she didn't want to find out. She didn't want to find out if the boy she loved was a fake, that everything she knew about him was a lie...

_**Flashback...**_

Elaina was cornered into an alley, the undead slowing making ground on her as she stood hopelessly in fear. She fell to her knees for she felt like she was running for hours, which was true. She couldn't find anymore reason to keep running anymore. The wall behind her kept her from going forward, and the dead chasing her were blocking the way back. All she could tell from the situation was no matter what she does no, it'll all be futile.

As the undead were just about a few feet away from her, a figure came from over the wall, landing in front of her. The figure was in a brown cloak with a hood over its head. From the way his body looked, Elaina could tell it was a male standing before her.

The man brought out one of his hand from under his cloak, revealing that he had a revolver in his hand. The man fired two sets of ammunition at the dead before reloading his gun for a second time and withdrawing his weapon. With a slight scoff, the man turned to look at Elaina.

The first feature she saw of the man was one of his greyish-blue eyes looking back her. Elaina immediately got to her feet and clinged to the man's side. But instead of hearing the voice of the boy she loved, she heard a dark, rough voice coming from the man.

"Get off me." The man said, Elaina immediately backing off the man.

"Ma-Mark?"

"Mark?" The man said, only laugh moments later at the name. "You thought I was that piece of shit!" The man laughed once more.

Elaina examined the man before her as the man removed the hood over his head. His other eye was revealed, aimlessly staring at her. The man was blind in his left eye. The man ran his hand through his short messy gray hair. Elaina also notice the man had reeked of alcohol.

"Who are you?"

"For you to cling on to me thinking I was that pathetic kid.." The man said as he looked away from Elaina. "You must be his girlfriend or something." The man returned his attention Elaina. "Tell me, what do you see in that kid?"

Elaina only stared as she noticed the man never answered his question. She shook her head and went on to answer the question that was thrown at her. "He's a kind hearted person, he protects his friends and never seems to act violently. He puts everyone before himself and will go to extreme lengths to make sure his friends and family don't die. He never seems to be bothered by anything and always wears smile on his face no matter the situation, and-"

"Is that how he is now?" The man said, rudely interrupting Elaina. "The kid sure knows how to mask his emotions."

"Mask his emotions? He's-"

"Not like that? Girl, I'm his father. His actual father by blood. Do you really think you know my son better than me?" The man said, glaring Elaina down.

"Your his dad?" Elaina said, shocked.

"I have a hunch you'll run into that kid, he tends to find his ways to others." The man said, then silently thought to himself. After a moment, the man laughed to himself again, but the laugh was different, there was more pain in this one, but Elaina was too in shock to notice. "Mark would do anything to know if I was here, you know. You can tell him I was here, but do it at your own cost. Once you tell him I'm in the city, you'll see who he really is and what he will do to get at me. Don't try to tell him I'm here if you want keep that boy how you think he is..." The man paused for a moment. "Or if you want him alive."

_**End of Flashback...**_

Elaina felt lost, struggling to make a choice. Her thoughts were broken as she heard Mark and Naomi laughing in the Employee's Only room. The laughter she once found heartwarming was now being doubted by none other then herself. Not only his laughter, but his whole person.

Elaina fell to her knees, her hand over her heart.

"Why?"

* * *

The laughter of two teens filled the room. Naomi and Mark were just sharing interesting stories about their lives, and found each story amusing. Mark and Naomi sat on the couch, the middle cushion of the couch being the line that separated them.

Mark was the first to stop laugh with a sigh. "Well, you seem to be you've been living." Mark said.

"Live while you're young, that's something I live by." Naomi said.

Mark pulled out his dogtag from his back pocket, examining the names of his sisters. He was still filled with worry about his two younger sisters, wondering if they were really with his stepfather.

Keeping his eyes on the dogtag, he spoke. "Wish my sister, Miyuki, was a little like you."

"Your sister?"

"She acts all tough all the time, trying hard to act older than she is..." Mark smiled to himself. "But I know she's more soft than that. I think she just does it for Maple, feeling that it's her resposibility to be a good role model to her."

"Who's Maple?" Naomi asked.

"She's my adoreable little sister..." Mark sighed. "Knowing that girl, she's probably worried sick about me as much as I am her. I just hope she isn't causing any trouble to Miyuki."

Naomi looked away from Mark, who was still looking at his dogtag. "How can you be so sure they're alive? Just because their dogtags weren't back there doesn't mean they're alive. You're dad could have just taken them to make you not worry."

"The thing is, Naomi..." Mark gave a moment of silence. "I can't think of them as dead...or as one of Them either. Thinking of them alive helps me a lot...Because, if I thought of them as otherwise, I think I'd completely lose it."

The two were silent, thinking of their own things. It had taken sometime, but Mark was able to notice the awkward silence between the two of them and had decided to move on with a new subject.

"You have any siblings, Naomi?"

Naomi sort of froze at the question. Since she didn't answer, Mark guessed he may have hit a subject she didn't want to talk about, and was about to change the subject. But before he did, it seemed Naomi was about to say something, but decided to not say a thing after.

"Let's move on with the conversation, shall we?" Mark said.

"Yeah..."

* * *

"Sayaka, how are you holding up?"

"I feel like shit, Dumbass..."

In the dark of night, two teens walk the streets of the undead. Azure was supporting Sayaka, who had gotten badly hurt during the incident of the explosion. It has been hours since then, and, since coming to, the two are trying to find their way back to the station. But the matter became more difficult than they thought.

The streets at night seemed more dangerous than they were during the day. And with the condition of Sayaka, they weren't really in the state to be fending off the undead that blocked their way to the station.

After meeting another dead end, Azure decided to change plans and find a good place to rest.

"Sayaka, I'm going to bring us to that building over there." Azure told Sayaka.

"You can't be serious...You really are a Dumba-" Sayaka start coughing violently. "Damn...I can't even insult you..."

"Save the insults for when we're able to rest." Azure said.

"There's a park not to far from here." Sayaka said. "I have a...place we can stay safe there."

The route the two took to the park Sayaka spoke of was less troublesome than the ones to the station. Not to long after, the two teens found themselves at a guided Azure to a small shed that was built near the center if the whole park.

As Sayaka told Azure, none of the dead would be inside. The shed's door was kept shut with a few chains and a lock, and it had been that way for years. But that door was not the only way in the abandoned shed. Sayaka knew there was a big enough hole both her and Azure could crawl through.

"There..." Sayaka breathed, pointing to a large box that stood against one of the outer walls of the shed.

"You must be getting tired." Azure said, half concerningly, half joking, as he set Sayaka down.

"Shut it..."

Azure assumed that the way into the shed was behind the large box. He grabbed the sides of the of the box with both hands, lifting it up just a few inches off the ground. He then slowly scooted to the side, slowly revealing a hole large enough for him and Sayaka to crawl through.

Azure looked at Sayaka, who was, coincidently, looking at him. Azure was able to catch a glimpse of the soft stare he was receiving before Sayaka shot her head in the opposite direction.

"Need my-"

"I can crawl through myself." Sayaka said, moving a bit quickly pass Azure and slowly through the hole.

Azure stood at thought. '_Was she blushing?_' Shaking the thought off, Azure crawled through the hole.

Once inside, he was welcomed to Sayaka turning on a lamp, which barely lit the room. The lamp mostly lit up the spaces that were just a few feet around from it, the rest were just black figure only visible due to the light. Azure noticed another box to his side. Knowing the chance of one of Them having the brain to crawl through the hole they came through, Azure decide to move the box in front of the hole.

After doing that, Azure Joined Sayaka at the lamp. The two were silent for a while, neither knowing what to discuss.

After a few minutes of the silence, Azure finally decide to bring something up. "So, Sayaka, you never really mentioned anything about your family."

"So what?" Sayaka replied, some energy back in her voice.

"Just wondering if you felt like talking about them. Never really said anything about them, even after you blew up your house." Azure said.

"Let me get two things straight here, Dumbass." Sayaka said. "Firstly, that was not my home, that house belonged to my mother's boyfriend. The only reason I'm their was because of my mom having custody over me. Secondly, I'm too damn tired to talk about my family...I just need to get some rest."

"I guess you got a point." Azure then thought for a moment. "But, before you rest, can I see your arm, I know you hurt your whole right side pretty bad."

Sayaka just stared at Azure. "I don't want you near my body, Perv."

"Hey, it's nothing like that!" Azure said. "Besides, I just said your arm, not your whole body."

There was another moment of silence between the two. It took a few minutes before Azure was to speak again.

"Hey, Sayaka..."

"What?"

"You saw it too, didn't you?"

"What exactly?" Sayaka asked.

"That man who took Joseph out of that building, just before the ground floor was blown out." Azure said. "Joseph...He's alive..."

_**To be continued...**_

For some reason, this seemed longer to write...I guess I'm still recovering from depression...Sorry that I had to make you all wait for this chapter, I hit something I like to call Level-4 Depression. I have a somewhat weak mentality, but I should be fine now with my meds.

I also hoped you enjoyed this chapter. If it seems shorter than my previous chapters, then thats good. I was thinking that making shorter chapter would let me update faster. Now, let's get on with the Review Time...

This chapter was mostly focused on the character reflecting on life, goals, and problems. With this, many secrets have been revealed...Well, not that many...

First of all, we figured out that Ashton, Mark's biological father, is in L.A., but only the newest member of the group knows it. Knowing of Mark's father and doubting Mark himself because of Ashton, Elaina is put on a tough spot. Don't lose it, Elaina!

Other mysteries are revealed, like why did Naomi react the way she did when Mark asked her if she had siblings? Why doesn't Sayaka talk about her family? And could she have a thing for Azure? And what of Joseph Allen, a teen that was thought to have died last chapter? How did he survived the explosion and who was the man that saved him?

That's all people! Remember to review, fav, and follow. Also PM if you got any questions!

Keeper out!


	17. E2: Behind Enemy Lines

_**Episode 2: Behind Enemy Lines  
**_

"..."

Joseph Allen slowly opened his eyes to a dark cell of some sort. He couldn't see anything outside the room, so he assumed that the door to the room didn't have any sort of window. Joseph groaned in pain as his head slowly began to ache. He couldn't really make anything out in the room due to the fact that there was hardly any light and his vision was blurry.

"What...Where am I?" Joseph muttered, trying to figure out how he got here. "Gaah..."

Joseph head began to pound more violently. Attempting to put his hand on his forehead, he found himself unable to move his arms at all, the same going for his legs. Joseph cursed beneath his breath at his luck.

There wasn't much he could do in his situation, but listening, and fortunately for Joseph, the door allowed him to hear things outside of it.

Joseph could her faint breathing outside the door. Joseph could only think of two things that could be beyond the door. One would a guard, which he hoped it was. The other option would one of Them. But if it was one of the undead, then it wouldn't make any sense to why he was like this.

The sound of footstep was the next thing he heard. Joseph listened closely, realizing that the footsteps were getting closer and closer. Whoever was breathing outside the door was sitting on a chair because the sound of a chair sliding back on stone floor reached Joseph's ears.

"They're going to start the testing soon." A female voice said. "The Heads are asking for a presentation of Yuri's new pet."

"So you want me to bring the kid up to the examination room?" A male voice said.

"Of course." The female said.

"Finally, I wanted to get out of this basement." The male said.

There was a loud click sound and the door to Joseph's cell opened. Though there was barely any light from outside the cell, it made Joseph's eyes hurt, making him squint as a tall dark figure walked up to him.

"Looks like you were awake." Was what Joseph hear before receiving a hard punch to his face.

The punch had brought a new pain to Joseph's already aching head. Joseph was just barely conscious at the moment. Joseph felt his body be unstrapped to what ever was restraining him. While he felt himself be carried, Joseph knew he may have been blacking out from time to time because after each blink he took, the scenery just kept changing.

After coming to once more, Joseph was staring into a bright light. Squinting, he proceeded on looking at his surroundings, but he couldn't turn his head for some reason. He attempted to move his arms, but it felt like they were dead, absolutely unmovable.

'_What the hell..._' Joseph thought before blacking out again.

_**Flashback...**_

Music was booming through the building as Joseph silently prayed to himself. It seemed like a good time to do so. It made him feel better thinking there was a place beyond death. His thumb was dancing around the button of the detonator in his hand, which was connected to the C4 vest he had beneath his shirt.

Finishing his prayer, Joseph looked at the detonator in his hand, and, with a sigh, he pushed down on the button, bracing for the explosion...But nothing happened.

"What the-" Joseph began as he felt the back of his head get bashed by a hard object. "Gah!"

Who ever hit him had now violently picked up Joseph and was bringing him outside through a window. Joseph was in the midst of blacking out as the doors to the building were kicked open by Azure. As Azure was about to scream out Joseph's name, Joseph heard a click, and the lower floor was blown out with explosives.

'_Dammit..._'

_**End of flashback...**_

Joseph slowly opened his eyes to another dark room. But unlike the last one, Joseph wasn't strapped down. Joseph groaned in pain as his whole body began to feel sore. He couldn't make out anything in the room he was in as he got to his feet, but he did hear something similar to an intercom buzz on.

"Nice to know that you are still alive, Joseph Allen." A female voice said through the intercom.

Joseph frantically scanned the darkness as he cautiously walked with arm stretched outwards. A few steps later, Joseph was able to feel a cold metal wall with the tip of his fingers. Keeping his hands on the wall, he began measuring the length and width of the room slowly as he replied to the woman on the intercom.

"Who are you?" Joseph yelled. "Where am I?"

"Who I am does not concern you, where you are doesn't matter. The question you should be asking is 'Why are you here?'." The female said.

Joseph gritted his teeth as he scanned the darkness once more. "How are you watching me? This room is pitch black."

"Cameras are set in all corners of the room. We are switching from infrared to night vision to keep surveillance of you." The female replied. "If you are trying to find your way through the room, you'll discover something quite unpleasant."

"Unpleasant, you sa-" Joseph felt his foot step on to something mushy. Joseph ran his hand slowly down the wall until he touched an unknown liquid. "What is this?" Joseph said as he rubbing his fingers together with the hand that touched the unknown liquid.

That's when he heard the soft moaning coming from right in front of him, a foul smell of rotting flesh now filled his nose. Joseph fell backwards, making a loud thud as he hit the ground. Though, he couldn't see what was before him, the signs given to him already told him that one of Them was in the room with him.

The thud must have gotten the Thing's attention because Joseph heard the slow movement of what was before him. Joseph began crawling backwards, letting his hands scan the floor for a weapon he could use. As he felt his back hit the wall, he heard the sound of chains tense and lax, tense and lax.

The female in the intercom giggled sickly, which ticked Joseph off. "Oh, how amusing that was..." The female said. "There's nothing to worry about, what's in there with you is chained up, so you don't have to worry about fighting in the dark."

"Stop toying with me!" Joseph said.

"Oh, did I hurt your feeling? I'm sorry." The female said with obvious sarcasm, followed by another sick giggle. "Okay, I had my fun...You wanted out, didn't you? Here."

There was a sound of a click, which was followed by what Joseph guessed were gears. Slowly, a mechanical door began to open, and a dim lit room coming into view. Joseph was in slight shock as the darkness he was in began to reveal its secrets. The room in which he was put in was a complete mess. One of Them was chained in one of the corners, dried blood stained the walls and floor, and, what really got to him, were the human corpses lying about in the room.

"What...the hell..." Joseph said.

"If I were you, I'd exit the room." The female said.

Silently, Joseph walked out of the room, and into a stadium-like one. The large room was like a desert, long and empty. The lights to the room weren't much help either. Though everything was visible, the dim lights gave the room an eerie feeling.

"Welcome to the training room." The female said after another intercom buzzed on. "You are being watched by an important audience, so feel honored and don't disappoint."

A hole opened up from the ceiling of the stadium-like room, a metal box slowly descending down to the floor. Joseph began to scan the room for anything that would seem useful to him, but the room was empty of any resources. Gritting his teeth, Joseph braced himself as he waited for the metal box to reach the floor and reveal whatever is inside it.

"Joseph Allen, you will be participating in a presentation in which you will aid our research on Project C-IX. Participating in this presentation with you is Subject B-08, a new add to Professor Yuri's experiments." The female went on.

'_Project C-IX? Subject B-08? Professor Yuri?_' Joseph thought. '_Don't tell me these guys are involved with all this zombie crap..._'

"Ah, Professor Yuri!" The female exclaimed.

"Move, child..." A male voice said, taking over the intercom. This was Professor Yuri. "Mr. Allen-"

"How is it you people know my name?!" Joseph yelled, interrupting Yuri.

"Children these days, so very rude." Yuri sighed. "If you would like to know, we have been watching you and your friends back at your little base for sometime now. I had just taken the opportunity to snatch you away from your group."

"So it was you who brought me here!" Joseph said.

"No, no, I never handle that kind of business directly. Janus does the dirty work for me." Yuri said.

As if on cue, a mechanical door began to open from the opposite side of the room. Out came a figure in a dark-brown cloak. As the figure came close, the only features Joseph could see were the figures feminine posture, the lower half of its face was only visible due to the upper half being covered by its hood, and the long black hair that stuck out of from the hood.

"Janus, open the box and inject Subject B-08 with Syringe A." Yuri commanded.

"Yes, Professor Yuri." Janus said. Joseph recognized this voice as the same female voice from earlier.

There was another click sound, and the box split open, revealing a male figure curled up in a ball with his back towards Joseph. Joseph watched as Janus drew out a syringe from under her cloak and inject the male's body with it. After pulling and withdrawing the syringe back under her cloak, Janus seemed to face Joseph, with her eyes not visible, it was hard to tell. She just seemed to stand there for a few seconds until a sadistic smile appeared on her face.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer, Joseph Allen." Janus said with a sick-type of excitement before turning around. "I wonder...When will I get to enjoy the suffering of the man who haunts my dreams..."

'_Someone has problems..._' Joseph thought.

"Subject B-08 was brought here a few days ago. My scouts brought him here after confirming that the boy was infected. After I performed my handy-work..." Yuri laughed suddenly as Subject B-08's body twitched and began to move. "Well, let's just leave it at that."

"Yeah, you don't want to be spilling the beans to the boy who is going to get out of here." Joseph scoffed.

"Confidence...This will be interesting to watch." Yuri said. "Say, Mr. Allen, why don't we make a bet..." Yuri said as Subject B-08 began to slowly get to its feet. "If you can defeat B-08, then I'll you free. But if you fail, then your body and soul belongs to Project C-IX."

"Sure, but I don't plan on losing, nor do I need your help to get out of this place!" Joseph yelled.

Taking a deep breath, Joseph examined the monstrosity before him. The undead male was quite tall, its skin extremely pale, showing signs of the infection running through its body. Its short, spiky, black hair was a complete mess. The clothes the Thing was wearing was a leather jacket, a black shirt and blue jeans, which were all in terrible condition. But what bothered Joseph were its eyes. Its left eye was a milky-white, which was a trait of the undead, but its other eye was a fading black.

"I don't care who or what you are! You're going down!"

_**To be continued...**_

Boom! Cliffhanger! And also, we are halfway through the second arc. I'm currently working on two chapters for this and my other story, The Enigmatic World. But let's get on with the Review Time, shall we?

This chapter was mainly focused on Joseph Allen, who is currently playing a major part in Episode 2. It seem Joseph is in a bad situation, finding himself "Behind Enemy Lines"...Psh, chapter name...Anyhow, we are introduced to possible antagonists, Yuri and Janus.

A few questions must be ask before we move on, right? Where is Joseph? What are Yuri and Janus's intentions? What is Project C-IX? Will Joseph be able to beat Subject B-08 and make an escape? DId anyone notice the identity of Subject B-08, or am I going to have to kick you back to chapter 11?

That's all folks,

Sayonara!

Keeper out!


	18. E2: The Line Between Them and Us

_**Episode 2: The Line Between Them and Us**_

_**An hour after the Jared and Joseph rescue mission...**_

"We had one death and two with status unknown. Joseph Allen died in attempt to save us, and Souske Hitori and Sayaka Okasaki got caught up in the blast. We searched for both Souske and Sayaka, but we could not find their bodies. We could only guess that they're buried somewhere beneath the rubble." Jared said, reporting in to both Dimitri and Angelo

Angelo sighed as he gestured for Jared to leave the room. "You're dismissed."

Jared walked out of room, leaving Dimitri and Angelo to themselves. Dimitri sat in a chair behind a desk while Angelo stood up, leaning his back against a wall. Angelo seemed to be in deep thought about what he had just heard.

"Don't blame yourself, friend." Dimitri said. "Azure won't die that easily, he has my blood flowing through him you know. He should be able to keep that Sayaka girl safe. And as for Joseph Allen-"

"Enough, I get it." Angelo said. "We can't afford this to happen again...I should just cancel Operation Rizuka, and we should do the rescuing ourselves."

"We can't." Dimitri said, "If we leave, this place loses order, and we can't just leave Mia to take charge, she seems to lose focus a lot."

"Is it nice to talk about a girl behind her back?" Both men glanced over to the entrance of the room. There stood Mia. "Just trust these kids, they've got enough experience to know what they're doing."

Angelo was once again in deep thought. He was considering all his options in his head. He sighed when he realized that Mia was half-correct. But there was two problems that Angelo couldn't leave out.

"There's more danger then the undead." Angelo said. "We can't forget, both Yuri and Ashton are here in Los Angeles."

* * *

Ari was venting out his anger as he rapidly hit a punching bag in the gym section of the lobby. He was completely bothered by the end results of their mission. Three losses in one day, one being his cousin. He hated the fact that he didn't do anything to save any of his friends when he was given the chance.

"Dammit!" Ari shouted as he gave the punching bag one last hit. "Dad..."

"So you're crying to your dad already?" A girl said behind him. Ari glanced over to a girl with shoulder-length black hair, the left side of her hair had a red streak.

"Shao...Right?" Ari asked

"Correct." Shao replied.

"Why are you talking to me?" Ari wondered.

Shao shrugged her shoulders. "I was bored. So, did something happen to your dad, I've only seen your mom around here."

Ari thought about telling Shao about the day of the Outbreak. He wasn't too sure he was prepared to talk about the matter, but it would let off some weight off his chest if he did. Taking a deep breath, Ari began telling Shao what happen to him on the day everything went to hell.

Ari explained to Shao that he was going home from school early, and, at the same time, he was skipping his grandfather's training session. But when Ari arrived to the street he lived on, he couldn't believe his eyes. The scene before him was like that from a movie. The streets covered in blood, corpses lying about or, even worse, walking around killing the living. Fortunately Ari had his bo-staff with him that day.

Ari made a mad dash for his house, killing any of Them that got in his way. He was able to make it, but in the end, it seemed it was all futile. His father had already been bitten because he was helping a few neighbors escape. Ari's father demanded Ari to leave after giving him his farewell gifts. Though he was reluctant, Ari left teary eyed as he told his father goodbye after he heard a gunshot come from his former home.

"That's pretty much it. Dad told me to go to Uncle Dimitri, and he and Angelo brought me here." Ari said.

"You had it rough." Shao said.

"Tell me about it..." Ari sighed

Shao had her eyes closed as she patted Ari on the back a few time. "Stop worrying about things like 'What if I mess up again?'. Once you make a mistake, you do anything to prevent it from happening again, right?"

"And what if I do mess up?"

"You don't think about that kind of stuff, just focus on preventing it." Shao replied.

Ari thought about what Shao just told him. He felt like Shao's advice brought back his fighting spirit. Smiling at Shao, he pecked a kiss on her cheek as if thanking her. After he pulled away, he notice Shao staring at him.

"What?" Ari said, chuckling.

"I'm not looking for a boyfriend, you know." Shao said calmly.

"Why is that? Are you a lesbian?" Ari asked. "Ah, not that I'm trying to be offensive."

"I'm not a lesbian, just not looking for a relationship, not in this hell." Shao said.

"I could change that." Ari said smoothly.

"And would like to see you try." Shao sighed

* * *

_**Back with Joseph Allen and Subject B-08...**_

Joseph stared at Subject B-08, who was seemly staring off. The stadium-like room was completely empty of any weapons, forcing Joseph to resort to hand-to-hand combat, which he wasn't really proficient in. But in a situation like this, he had to just go with what he had and pull through.

Without warning, Joseph charged at Subject B-08. Subject B-08 gave no response to Joseph's actions. Joseph was slightly confused by this but decided to disregard the matter. As he was about a foot away, Joseph threw a hard punch, intending to hit Subject B-08 in the face. But the next moment caught Joseph off guard.

Subject B-08 dodged under Joseph's attacking arm and sent a uppercut into Joseph's gut. Joseph's eyes went wide as pain came up from where he was hit. As he fell to the ground, he felt as if he couldn't breath. When he finally able to, Joseph threw up some blood.

Joseph struggled to his feet as he kept his eyes on the monster in front of him, who had returned to the state it was in earlier. Joseph couldn't believe how much pain he received from a single punch. He began to wonder what Subject B-08 was. Did it get its strength from that syringe, or from Yuri's "Handy work"? What ever it was, it gave Subject B-08 inhuman strength.

"What are you waiting for, Mr. Allen?" Yuri said as he buzzed in through the intercom.

Joseph gritted his teeth in frustration. It was like Yuri was mocking him. He probably thought Joseph didn't have what it took to win from the beginning. Yuri was toying with Joseph, enjoying the pain he was feeling from a single punch from his experiment.

"Well, Mr. Allen, are you giving in already?" Yuri asked mockingly.

"Shut up!" Joseph shouted as he charged at Subject B-08 once more.

Joseph threw another hard punch, aiming at the head once again. As expect of Subject B-08, it dodged under like before. Joseph wasn't going to let Subject B-08 hit him like before. As Subject B-08 was going to repeat its uppercut, Joseph was able to dodge by drawing back with one step. This left Subject B-08 open.

Joseph proceeded with a sweep kick, knocking Subject B-08 off its feet. Once it lie back against the ground, Joseph went to kick it as hard as he could in the head. But Subject B-08 was able to block and take a hold of Joseph's foot as it was inches away from its head.

'_It seems to react quicker when I go for its head..._' Joseph thought. "Oh no you don't!"

Joseph pivoted with his free foot, his feet now pointing upwards of Subject B-08's body. With his free foot, Joseph lifted it over Subject B-08's face, and gave it a stomp. If this were a normal undead being, it head would have been completely bashed in, but for Subject B-08, it was different.

Subject B-08 took the stomp full on, not able to react fast enough to block Joseph's foot. Joseph lifted his foot from Subject B-08's face and leapt to the side as B-08 let go of his other foot. Instantly, Subject B-08 got to its feet, acting if nothing had happen to it. The only sign that Joseph had hit it was the faint markings of the sole of Joseph's shoe.

"Did I even damage your skull at all?!" Joseph yelled in frustration.

"Subject B-08 is numb to any kind of pain, so he couldn't tell if his skull has been fractured or not. He is like the undead, no matter how much times you stab it, if you don't aim for its weakness, it will keep on coming." Yuri said, laughing.

"I stomped on it's face! If this Thing is like the undead, then its head should have turned to a mush of meat under my foot!" Joseph said.

Yuri chuckled. "Yes, Subject B-08 has many traits similar to the undead. He feels no pain, his strength is beyond human, and of course his only weakness to kill him is to destroy his brain. But the experimenting I've done makes him neither human nor undead." Yuri said.

"Neither human or undead?" Joseph muttered.

"Though, Subject B-08 wasn't fully able to bond with the infection like Janus did-" Yuri began.

"Bond? What do you mean by bond with the infection?" Joseph asked.

"Oops, I guess I have been talking a bit too much." Yuri said.

Joseph thought about what he just heard while keeping his eyes on Subject B-08. Subject B-08 was neither human nor undead, but had a few traits that the undead had. So Joseph thought that it would be accurate to hypothesize that Subject B-08 had a few human traits as well. To back that hypothesis up, Yuri said that Subject B-08 didn't fully bond with the infection like Janus, which tells Joseph that Yuri had possibly experimented on Janus, and that Subject B-08 may have gone through a similar experimentation as Janus. And from what Joseph could tell, Janus still had human traits as being able to speak and having a personality. Aside from her sick laughter and strangeness, Janus could be considered human.

'_I wonder, can I reason with this Thing..._' Joseph thought. He sighed as he began to try out his idea. "Listen, who ever you were...or are...I have a feeling that you know what's going on here and see that it's wrong, and that that Yuri guy isn't good. I don't feel like you were a bad person before all this, so please, if you have any sense left to understand me, please...help me..."

There was no response from Subject B-08. Joseph felt stupid trying to reason with it, but it was worth a try. Joseph ran up to attack again, lunging at Subject B-08 for another attempt to hit it. Subject B-08 reacted quickly, catching Joseph's attacking arm as Joseph landed on both feet.

Joseph felt like he was frozen as he looked into Subject B-08's eyes. Something about its eyes had Joseph's attention, but he wasn't exactly sure what it was. He had already noticed that its left eye was a milky-white while its right was a fading black. Something else was unknowingly bothering him, and the more he stared, the more frustrated he became when not figuring out what it was.

Gritting his teeth, Joseph swung with his other arm. Subject B-08 blocked the arm with ease, forcing the arm away with a slight push of its block. This left Joseph open, but Subject B-08 didn't attack, it only stared back at Joseph as if waiting. Joseph was confused to why this was, and it seemed he wasn't the only one.

"Subject B-08, what are you doing?" Yuri asked, a hint of frustration in his voice. "I'm broadcasting this to important people, I would think twice about embarrassing me."

A struggled word slipped from Subject B-08's lips, but it wasn't to respond to Yuri, it seemed to be meant for Joseph. And that word made Joseph realize what made him so drawn to Subject B-08's eyes.

"F-ad-ing..."

Joseph final noticed what he seemed to miss. It was Subject B-08's fade black. The blackness of the eye was literally fading into a milky-white, but slowly, making it hardly noticeable. Joseph began to wonder what this meant, but he didn't need to think long as Subject B-08 mustered up another word.

"Tu-rn-ing..."

Joseph became wide-eyed. He knew what it meant by turning. When Yuri said that Subject B-08 was neither human nor undead, he meant that whatever he had done to Subject B-08 made his being the line between the two. A mix...A hybrid...

"I-I don't h-ave m-uch control o-ver my body." Subject B-08 tried its hardest to tell Joseph. "B-ut I have just e-nough to su-pr-ess my-self...I d-on't care wh-at happens to me in th-is st-ate, so you know wh-at to do...

Joseph nodded. "On three?" Joseph asked. Subject B-08 mustered an agreeing reply.

Joseph mouthed counting up to three. When he mouthed "three", the grip on Joseph's captured arm loosened. Joseph sent his fist into Subject B-08's face, knocking it to the ground. Joseph became reluctant about stomping Subject B-08's face in. It was easier to kill the undead, knowing that the undead had lose all reason and were nothing but mindless walking corpses. But it was different with Subject B-08, it still had the sense to reason, the sense to care, the sense of justice. In all, Subject B-08 was still human.

"I'm sorry..." Joseph said, lifting his foot, then bringing it down.

As his foot began to get centimeters away from Subject B-08's face, Joseph was pulled back, rear end hitting the ground. Joseph looked up in surprise as he watched Janus point a pistol down on Subject B-08.

"Eight words, choose wisely, B-08, and I maybe I'll let you live." Janus said sadistically.

Subject B-08 seemed to grin, and as he spoke. He seemed to be able to speak without trouble this time.

"My name is Satoshi Minegishi, you fucking sadist!" Satoshi yelled as Janus fired a bullet into his forehead.

"I'm a sadist, huh..." Janus whispered. In a matter of seconds, a sick grin appeared on her face as she began to rapidly fire down on Subject B-08, or Satoshi. When pistol no long fired, she giggled sadistically. "At least you said one thing right, Subject B-08."

"His name is Satoshi, you bitch!" Joseph yelled as he got back to his feet and lunged at Janus.

It happened to quickly for Joseph to react. In an instant, Janus pulled out a syringe and quickly impaled Joseph in the neck with it as she dodged Joseph's punch. In that same moment was the first ever eye contact Joseph had with Janus. Janus's hood slipped off her head, revealing her long black hair, a teenage face, and sapphire-blue eyes, which glared into Joseph's dark-green.

"Oops." Janus said sickly as Joseph fell to the ground after Janus pulled out the syringe. Janus giggled her sadistic giggle and put her foot on Joseph's shoulder, slowly twisting her foot side to side. "I'm going to enjoy this." Her voice was mockingly joyous and sweet. "Tell me, Joseph, do you have a foot fetish?"

Joseph tried to get up, but Janus held him down with inhuman strength with only her foot. Janus licked her lips in pleasure as Joseph squirmed under her foot. But it wasn't enough for her. She needed more. Janus lifted her foot up for a mere second, and sent it back down as quickly. A large amount of pain shot from Joseph's shoulder as he felt his bones in that area shatter.

Joseph screamed in agony as Janus began to twist her foot on his now broken shoulder. Janus seemed to moan in pleasure as she listened to agonized scream. "Mmmmm, yeah, that's it..."

"That's enough." A male voice said, pointing a revolver at Janus.

The intercom buzzed on, and Yuri spoke.

"Hello, Ashton Kuzen."

_**To be continued...**_

Oh my GOLDFISH! Another damn cliffhanger. It was a fun write and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Review Time!

We returned to the police station about an hour after Joseph "died". It would seem that Angelo and Dimitri know of both Ashton and Yuri, considering both of them threats. Ari had a little talk with Shao about the day of the Outbreak, it seems that didn't go well for him...And we got to return to Joseph and Satoshi(Subject B-08). After Satoshi suppressed his body from attacking Joseph, Joseph was able to take him down, but not finish him. Janus had the pleasure (the word pleasure sounds wrong to me with Janus) to completely overkill Satoshi. Then after Janus broke Joseph shoulder, Angelo steps in the picture!

Now, question this chapter for the time being. How do Angelo and Dimitri know about Ashton and Yuri? With Ari be able to prevent repeating his failure when Operation Rizuka begins? What kind of experimenting did both Satoshi and Janus go through? What was inside the syringe Janus injected Joseph with? Could Janus possibly be (?)? Is Ashton really a threat? What the hell does Yuri look like? Is there an afterlife? Why is the sky blue? Why are you still reading these questions when they're already completely off track of what I what you to think about?

That's it! I'm done for now, gotta work on the other story.

Sayonara!

Keeper out!


End file.
